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!P Gore Technologies 


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SIM SON 0000 1962 



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2929 Campus Drive Suite 250 
San Mateo, CA 94403 
415/570-7736 415/570-7787 (fax) 
800/366-2279 




SIMSON00001963 



NSXTWORLD 



January, V o I u m e 4 , Issue I 



Contents 



Feature 



Building Materials 22 

NEXTSTEP 3.2, SoftPC, and Portable Distributed Objects 
help you get your computing house in order 

by Lee Sherman, Dan Lavin, and 

s i m s n l . g a r f i n k e i. 



Reviews 



Contact Sports 30 

Contender InTouch from SmartSoft does battle with champion 
SBook from Sarrus Software 

by S I T H Ross 

Stereo Choices 32 

With Intuitive Technologies' intuitiv'3d and Gestel's 

soltdThinking MODELER, 

users choose between ease of use and power 

by Lee Sherman 



Box Scores 33 

ALR and GEC will bring smiles to the faces of 
white-hardware users 

BY M C A R L I N G 



Fax Solution 34 

B&W's NXFax and ZyXEL's modems bring heavenly faxing 
to mere mortals 

BY S I M S N L . GARFINKEL 



NeXTriloquism 34 

With ScreenCast from Otherwise, users can broadcast their 
screens IjMsqcross any network 



I Y 



Rijviih 



B W 1 L E N 




News 



NeXT WORLD BX 

Comdex wrap, .1 leXT qxecuti 



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11 

evel ipe 







1 



A 



briefing, 



O 



Community 



High-rise Mover 6 

Information Technology Solutions is moving up in 
Chicago's financial world 

by Dan Ruby 

Commentary: Learning Curve 7 S* 1 -^ 

The lessons of bringing NEXTSTEP into your bumness 



by Eric Gwiazdowsk 



/ 



/ 



/ 



Real World: Choosing^'Programmer 8 

In the first of a new series, the nu saitdbplfs of finding crac\ 
coders for your bus ms&vrnjects 

by Eliot Bergson 



Plus New in Shrinkwrap, On the Net, and User Group Ueuk 

i 



Viewpoints 



The NeXT World 3 

Dan Ruby gazes out the window at SoftPC and the 

NEXTSTEP shrinkwrapped market 

Lip Service 4 

Readers' forum 

Developer Camp 28 

Simson Garfinkel wants NeXT to treat all developers alike 

NeXT Ink 29 

Dan Lavin wonders about NeXT competing in the 

applications market 

Vanishing Point 40 

John Perry Barlow gets his hands dirty 

NeXT Games 40 

Scott Kim talks to the animals 



U 



Cover Illustration by Laura Tarrish 



i 


















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SIM SON 0000 1964 



WestleWordPerfect 
"utzwithFrameMakef 



Or simply us 





'Tages represents a breakthrough 

in document processing that should appeal 

to users at ail levels" 

NeXTWORLD jime 1993 



"Instant Pages - just add content... watch fully formed pages take 
shape before your very eyes" 

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"What you see is what you really wanted... 

Pages is one of the best arguments for NeXT" 

Ester Dyson, Release 1.0 



"Impressive user interface... the system offers a lot of 
innovative ideas and solid functionality" 



"Awesome in its simplicity" 



Sejfae&i Report 
Btm & Rhodes Report- 



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Pages Software inc. 9755 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.. San Diego, CA 92124 USA 

Pages is a trademark of Pages Software Ine 

WordPerfect is a trademark of WordPerfect, Inc. FrameMaker is a trademark of Frame Technology Corp. 

Circle 59 on reader service card 

2 mms JANUARY 1994 




Vol. 4, No. 1 JANUARY 1994 

President Gordon Haight 

Publisher Jeannine Barnard 

Editor in Chief Daniel Ruby 

EDITORIAL 

Managing Editor Eliot Bergson 

Senior Reviews Editor Dan Lavin 

Associate Designer Beth Kamoroff 

Assistant Editor Paul Curthoys 

Senior Contributing Editor Simson L. Garfinkel 

Contributing Editors Joe Barello, John Perry Barlow, 

Tony Bove and Cheryl Rhodes, Ben Caiica, 

M Carling, Daniel Miles Kehoe, Scott Kim, Robert Lauriston, 

Charles L. Perkins, Rick Reynolds, Seth Ross, 

Lee Sherman 

ART AND DESIGN 

Earl Office San Francisco, California 

PRODUCTION 

Director of Manufacturing Jayne Boyer 
Manufacturing Manager Hilal Sala 
Advertising Coordinator David Zink 

ADVERTISING SALES 

Associate Publisher Steve Frieke 

415/267-1784 

Western Sales Manager Laurie Eddv 

415/97S-31SS 

ADMINISTRATION 

Operations Manager Graciela Eulate 

Director of Information Services Kevin Greene 

1M1 Corporate Managet Denise Garcia 

CIRCULATION 

Circulation Manager Catherine Huchting 

Single Copy Sales Director George Clark 

Single Copy Sales Representative Marty Garcher 

Circulation Assistant Jason Paul Muscat 

IDG CORPORATE ADMINISTRATION 

Ditector of Finance Vicki Peilen 

Financial Analyst Madeleine Buckingham 

Accounting Manager Pat Murphy 

To reach NeXTWORLD by mail or courier, use this address: NeXTWORLD, 501 Second St., San 
Francisco, CA 94107. You can also contact NeXTWORLD via the Internet at nextworld@nextworld. 
com, via MCI mail at NEXTWORLD, or via fax at 4 15/978-3 1 96. NeXTWORLD is published month- 
ly by Integrated Media, 501 Second St., San Francisco, CA 94107, a subsidiary of IDG Communications, 
the world leader in information semes on information technology. Basic subscription rate is $39.90 
for 12 monthly issues. Foreign orders must be prepaid in U.S. funds with additional postage. For 
Canada, add S15. All ether foreign orders, add S40 for airmail and $15 for surface delivery. Fax 
415/442-1891 to charge VTSA/MC. For new subscriptions or subscriber-service questions, call toll-free 
800/685-3435; in Tennessee or from outside the U.S., call 6 15/377-3322; write P.O. Box 5038, Brentwood, 
TN 37024-98 1 7; or e-mail subscrip@nextworld.com. Applicanon to mail at Second Class postage tares 
pending at San Francisco and additional mailing offices. Fot permission to quote or reproduce editori- 
al material from NeXV&'ORLB, send a written request stating the issue date, article, page num- 
bers), and exact text of the material to: Reprints and Permissions, NeXTWORLD Production, 501 
Second St., San Francisco, CA 94107. For back issues of NeXTWORLD, write to: Back Issues, 
NeXTWORLD Circulation; $8 per issue; $18 per issue outside U.S. prepaid. POSTMASTER: 
Send address changes to NeXTWORLD, P.O. Box 5038, Brentwood, TN 37024-9817 ot Call 615/377- 
3322. Editorial and business offices; 501 Second St., San Francisco,CA 94107; 415/243-0600. 
NeXTWORLD is a publication of Integrated Media. Printed in the United States of America. 
NeXTWORLD is a trademark of NeXT and is used under license. This publication is not affiliated 
with NeXT. Copyright © 1 994 Integrated Media. All rights reserved. Canadian GST #124669433. 



IDG: W( 

NeXTWORLD Is a publication of International Data Group, the 
world's largest publisher of computer-related information and the 
leading global provider of inlnfinatiou services on information 
technology. International Data Group publishes over 1 94 com- 
puter publications in 61 countries. Forty million people read one 
of more International Date. Group publications each month. 
International Data Group's publications include: ARGENTI- 
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World Vietnam. 







SIM SON 0000 1965 



THE NeXT I 



I 



Dhe arrival of Insignia Solutions' SoftPC as an extra-cost add-on 
to NEXTSTEP 3.2 introduces new questions into the turmoil of 
the third-part}" software market. Will users turn to Insignia's soft- 
ware as their preferred environment for productivity apps, while 
looking to the native environment only for custom development? Or will 
SoftPC remain a safer}' net for users who need one or more unavailable NEXT- 
STEP apps, while they continue to work mostly in the native environment? 

The good news is that SoftPC is fast, robust, and reasonably compati- 
ble. The bad news is that SoftPC is fast, robust, and reasonably compatible. 

One thing is clear: It's not your father's 
SoftPC. No longer the emulation product of 
old, this is a product that lets you run PC 
applications on PC hardware. It's like a nest 
of three boxes. On the outside you have the 
PC hardware. Inside is NEXTSTEP, and in- 
side that is SoftPC. You run it either in a 
NEXTSTEP window or in full-screen mode. 
Switching is fairly easy, though not neces- 
sarily automatic. The same cautions apply- 
to cutting and pasting. 

Not to denigrate Insignia, which has 
shipped an outstanding product, but SoftPC 
has more exceptions than rules. In the case of each of the three programs 
that confirmed NEXTSTEP users would be most likely to want to use under 
SoftPC - WordPerfect, FrameMaker, and Improv - the current shipping 
version of the product is not guaranteed to run. 

Beyond compatibility issues, switching constantly between environments 
detracts from the consistency of the NEXTSTEP experience. You use Win- 
dows because you have to, not because you want to. Many folks out there 
in PC land use it because they don't know any better. But for those of us who 
have experienced NEXTSTEP, regressing into an environment like Windows 



Native Apps 
vs. SoftPC 



Dan Rum 



is a less than pleasant experience. 

Then there is the issue of NEXTSTEP'S added value. As I have written 
previously in this space, the opportunity for developers lies in taking advan- 
tage of the special characteristics of the NEXTSTEP environment to offer 
special integration capabilities that differentiate their apps from run-of-the- 
mill desktop productivity apps. If the competition is head-to-head on features, 
it is unlikely that many NEXTSTEP programs will be superior to Windows 
standard-bearers. But NEXTSTEP applications that add value in the form 
of APIs, objects, or Services provide a good reason for users to stay native. 

The bottom line is that SoftPC is a more 
than adequate solution for running standard 
apps like Microsoft Word and Excel, or 
NEXTSTEP refugee apps like WordPerfect 
and Improv. Companies that require access 
to these products will do just that. 

But given a choice of reasonably com- 
petitive applications, I have to believe that 
most users will prefer to stay native. SoftPC 
really amounts to a safety valve providing 
access to application categories that are not 
yet fully represented under NEXTSTEP and 
to particular programs that may be required 



by an organization's approved list. 

• • * 
With this issue, our longtime senior editor for technology, Simson Garfinkel, 
shifts to a new role as senior contributing editor as he moves on to other 
projects in and out of the NeXT market. His Developer Camp column, which 
this month is sure to raise hackles in Redwood City, will continue. Thanks, 
Simson, for your singular contributions to the NeXT world. $ 

Dan R u b y is NeXTWORLD s editor in chief. 



HBBBH^^HnBHBBBi^mHHBIHBK 



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New NeXT Peripherals: 

NeXT 400 dpi Printer - $850.00 
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NeXT Supplies: 
EPS Toner Cartridge -$85.00 
Black Ink Cartridge (6 Pack) - $82.00 
Color Ink Cartridge (6 Pack) - $123.00 
Optical Media- $60.00 

Prices subject to availability; shipping, taxes not included, 



Circle 69 on reader service card 



lAMlUKV 1QQd NSVTWnEtm J 

SIMSON00001966 



L E T T E 



Black was better 

I'm getting slowly but surely annoyed 
by all the articles I read that try to tell 
people that white hardware is cheaper 
than black hardware. Do you really 
believe you only paid for the hardware 
when you bought a NeXT system? Try 
subtracting the software price from a 
NeXTstation, and then go and find me 
a white system that is cheaper and 
compares in overall performance, 

The cheapest system you mention 
in your survey, the NCR machine, is 
slower in every single one of your 
benchmark categories. Nevertheless, 
with $4700 for the system plus $795 
and S1995 for the user and developer 
system, you are up to a total of $7490, 
which is pretty close to the price of a 
NeXTstation Turbo Color. 

Now consider that the NeXT sys- 
tem was up and running in 15 minutes, 
while you have a hardware-support 
person fiddling with DIP switches for 
about a day until NEXTSTEP for Intel 
finally works. 

Obviously, there are advantages 
to white hardware, such as a lower 
risk for companies trying NEXTSTEP. 
But from both a technical and price/ 
maintenance standpoint, moving to 
white hardware is hardly a bargain. 

Ronald C. F. Anthony 

I have not read much in NeXT- 
WORLD about the fact that the Intel- 
based computers you've tested all have 
nearly the same incredibly poor styling. 
They seem to be designed like the 
operating system they once accommo- 
dated - DOS. NeXT users once were 
used to riding on elegant horses. Now 
there's big horsepower, but the horse 
makes a "moo" sound. 

On another subject, if NeXT- 
Connection thinks it's better to sleep 
during the revolution, they'll never 
wake up. As a user, it's easy to survive 
with the Electronic AppWrapper. 
Other resellers will gain the market 
NeXTConnection is giving away, 
though I do miss the informative ads. 



David Andel 
Wiesbaden, Germany 

As competition among PC vendors 
heats up, prices continue to drop, so 
the price/performance of white hard- 
ware is improving daily. And besides, 



NeXT was getting ready to unbundle 
NEXTSTEP from the hardware price 
before it dropped hardware. Regard- 
ing system design, it is a factor in our 
rating system. - NW 

Informix informs 

In "Start Your Engines" (NeXT- 
WORLD, November 1993), you men- 
tioned the Informix Adaptor for DBKit, 
but unfortunately you forgot to men- 
tion that the Informix RDBMS, Infer- 
mix-SE, and development tools have 
been available for black hardware since 
NEXTSTEP 2.1. Although there hasn't 
been a new NEXTSTEP 3.x version 
(black hardware), the 2.1 version is still 
running on 3.x. 

There are also several users world- 
wide who are using the adapter in 
combination with In- 
formix-Online. The 
Rush Presbyterian St. 
Luke's Medical Center 
in Chicago is maintain- 
ing medical informa- 
tion with Informix- 
OnLine on a UNIX 
server and is using 
NEXTSTEP clients 
with DBKit. The Tech- 
nical University of 
Vienna set up a com- 
puter-science lab with 
Informix products on 
NEXTSTEP and is 
developing software 
for an Austrian bank 
(see "Risk Manager," 
NeXTWORLD, 
October 1993). 

hi addition to the 
Dataquest market- 
share numbers you 
mentioned, a July 1993 IDC study on 
the UNIX relational-database software 
market lists Informix first in shipments 
with a 32.7 percent share and second 
in revenues with a 17.9 percent share. 

I hope that we will be able to an- 
nounce our RDBMS products for 
NEXTSTEP for Intel soon. 

Alexander Koerner 
Informix Germany 
Ismaning, Germany 

Book biting 

I would like to address some of the 
criticisms that were detailed in the recent 
review of my book, NEXTSTEP Pro- 
gramming: Concepts and Applications 
("Making Book," NeXTWORLD, 



October 1993). 

• "Nghiem skips many of the 
fundamental concepts that are covered 
in the Mahoney and Garfinkel book, 
such as menu-cell updating, Services 
provisioning. ..." I agree that these 
ideas are important, but 1 would argue 
whether these concepts are more fun- 
damental than the other concepts that 
I do cover. It would be redundant for 
me to cover those same concepts, since 
Garfinkel and Mahoney have already 
done a fine job of explaining them. 

• "By the end of chapter four . . . 
Microsoft Windows and Macintosh 
programmers could be excused for 
bailing out at this point, wondering 
what the NEXTSTEP fuss is all about," 
and the summary reads that my book, 
"accomplishes the seemingly impos- 
sible: makes NEXT- 
STEP programming 
seem boring." My 
intended audience is 
not people who get 
excited by technol- 
ogy, but rather peo- 
ple who program for 
a living and now 
plan to migrate to 
NEXTSTEP. They 
need to understand 
many other tech- 
nologies in addition 
to NEXTSTEP, in- 
cluding OOA,OOD, 
class and object doc- 
umentation, and 
debugging. 

• "Even the 
common user-inter- 
face objects ... are 
explained in program 
code instead of IB 
examples." The three core applications 
are completely built using IB; only the 
small examples at the start of each 
chapter are hand built. As I explained 
in the introduction, I emphasize the 
hand-coding so the reader can gain a 
deeper understanding of how the UI 
constructs work. 

It appears that the reviewer had a 
different expectation of what the book 
should be (pure NEXTSTEP, such as 
Garfinkel and Mahoney's book) ver- 
sus what the book actually is - and was 
intended to be - a NEXTSTEP book 
with a strong emphasis on OOD. 

Alex Duong Nghiem 
Mansfield, TX 




All ears 

After posting a letter critical of NeXT's 
customer service to the Internet, and 
copying several key NeXT figures, I 
received a phone call from someone 
at NeXT. He was very eager to discuss 
NeXT's customer-service policies and 
we ended up speaking for almost a 
half hour. While I still feel there are 
improvements to be made, this expe- 
rience has convinced me that NeXT 
really is starting to listen to its cus- 
tomers. The elitist attitude seems to be 
dropping by the wayside, and NeXT 
seems genuinely interested in what cus- 
tomers have to say. 

Rob Wyatt 
Los Angeles 

Continental divide 

Thanks for the article on Xedoc 
("From Down Under to Everywhere," 
NeXTWORLD, November 1993), 
but you are 1000 kilometers off on our 
location. We are based in Melbourne, 
not Sydney. From an Australian view- 
point, there's a little bit of a Sydney- 
Melbourne rivalry, so it's important to 
some folks that we're correctly geo- 
located. Besides, Sydney is a more 
common tourist destination, and I'd 
hate for visiting NEXTSTEP users to 
expect to find us during their holiday 
in Sydney. 

Brett Adam 

Xedoc 

Melbourne, Australia 

For the record 

The caption identifying output sam- 
ples from various printers in "Dots 
Enough" (NeXTWORLD, Novem- 
ber 1993) was incorrect. The sample 
on the left is from a 400-dpi NeXT 
Laser Printer; the middle sample is 
from a 600-dpi HP LaserJet IV; and 
the sample on the right is from a 300- 
dpi HP DeskJet Plus. 

NeXTWORLD welcomes your comments, 
Please mail them to Letters at NeXT- 
WORLD, 501 Second St., San Francisco, 
CA 94107; or e-mail them to letters® 
nextworld.com. 



4 Wam JANUARY 1994 




SIM SON 0000 1967 



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9,1 

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and 
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tcus- 



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SIM SON OOO0 1968 



COMMUNITY 



High-rise Mover 

S E R V i t: e~s aTTd s~o f t w a r e 



If getting close to your customers is one of the 
keys to business success in the 1990s, Information 
Technology Solutions (ITS) is taking it literally. In 
late October, the NEXTSTEP consulting and ser- 
vices firm moved into a 6400-square-foot office 
suite on the 22nd floor of Citibank Towers, just a 
skip and a jump from the high rises along Chicago's 
LaSalle Street, where NeXT's financial-sen- ices cus- 
tomers are concentrated. 

Actually, the new address is only a short distance 
from rrS's old loft space in the city's artsy River 
North district. But stylistically, it is much closer to 
the frenetic world of securities and options that has 
fueled die company's growth. 

"We've moved beyond the garage-shop stage 
to become a serious corporate-consulting opera- 
tion," says Ted Shelton, president and CEO of ITS. 
Flush with success from its outsourcing contract 
with Swiss Bank Corporation, NeXT's top com- 
mercial customer, ITS is gearing up for a major 
expansion in 1 994. 

The very week of the move, ITS was also host- 
ing a visit to Chicago by Barclays Bank and Lin- 
klaters & Paines, two new NeXT customers based 
in Great Britain. Also, the firm's new chief oper- 
ating officer, Bill Thomas, previously the manager 
of the 5000-seat NEXTSTEP installation at the Air 
Force, was settling in after a few weeks on the job. 
Today, the 20-employee firm offers a broad 
range of products and services, including training, sysadmin, custom pro- 
gramming, and commercial applications. Having cornered the market in 
Chicago, ITS now has its sights set on New York and London, where it will 
establish branch offices. Shelton expects the firm to grow to as many as 50 
employees in the coming year. "Our goal is to be the premier firm for NeXT 
consulting, sendees, and software for the financial community," Shelton says. 
The emergence of ITS as a top player in the NEXTSTEP market is the 
natural culmination of Shelton's career. He had been a Steve jobs follower 
since his first job writing assembly code for Apple II adventure games. In 
1987, when NeXT was preparing its initial launch into the higher-education 
market, Shelton was working for the technology-commercialization arm 
of the University' of Chicago, a charter NEXTSTEP site. In the process, he 
became familiar with Chicago's nascent NeXT scene. 




Ted Shelton and the ITS crew have risen to new heights with 
both custom and shrinkwrapped development. 



custom programming continued to grow. O'Con- 
nor merged into Swiss Bank, and the company 
moved from 50 to 1000 NEXTSTEP seats (today 
it has 1700). The bank decided to focus its own 
resources on developing strategic trading app- 
lications and to outsource the office-automation 
work to ITS. 

According to Jeff Kwam, associate director 
of information technology for Swiss Bank, the 
bank has also used some of the larger NEXTSTEP- 
services firms, such as Pencom and Systemhouse, 
but considers ITS the best of the lot. "ITS consis- 
tently delivers what they promise," he says. 

In addition to Swiss Bank, ITS's customer 
list includes most of the major Midwestern NEXT- 
STEP sites, including Motorola, NationsBanc- 
CRT, First Chicago Bank, University of Chicago, 
and Rush Presbyterian Hospital. 

Shrinkwrapped software is still a goal, but it 
now takes a back seat to corporate consulting. 
In fact, the new development is much more ambi- 
tious than the early ITS utilities. The cornerstone 
is Tempest, the code name for a collaborative office- 
automation software environment. Other pieces 
include Perennial Document Manager, which ITS 
recently acquired, and a new NEXTSTEP client 
for Hewlett-Packard OpenMail. 

These are all pieces of a comprehensive office- 
automation platform that could extend beyond 
today's leading collaborative environments, such as Lotus Notes. "Today's 
collaborative applications are for workgroups, but Tempest extends to the 
full enterprise. It is all about defining the 'info-structure' of a company," 
says Eric Wespestad, a long-time employee of O'Connor and Swiss Bank 
who joined ITS in early 1993. 

Some components of Tempest are already in use at ITS customer sites. 
Later in 1 994, Shelton says, ITS will provide the development libraries as 
a product so other consultants or customers can use them to build their own 
systems. After that, ITS will offer a unifying framework for users to plug 
together complex systems. 

With its customer-focused strategy, ITS survived NeXT's transition year 
in better shape than most developers, but Shelton realized the company needed 
a seasoned operations manager. In Thomas, he found someone who has 



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But in 1990, when Shelton decided to take the plunge on a solo consult- run a very large organization and who also understands and believes in 

ing practice, the NeXT services market was locked up by Businessland. In- the NeXT market. "I'm interested in innovative uses of NEXTSTEP, includ- 

stead, he focused on Macintosh and Sun. A year later, though, when Shelton ing wireless communications," Thomas says. "Can you imagine traders in 

and parmer Jamie Herre incorporated ITS, the Businessland relationship had the pits with an untethered connection to corporate systems?" 
soured and NeXT's Chicago office asked Shelton to provide services for a There's no shortage of vision at Information Technology Solutions. If 

new NeXT customer called O'Connor and Associates. there is any bottleneck, it is the shortage of available programming tal- 

The early work was basic services: installation, training, and data con- ent. "We are looking for as many as 20 more NEXTSTEP programmers 

version. But Shelton wanted ITS to become a software company, and he got for contracts we could take on if we only had the people," Shelton says, 
a boost when O'Connor contracted with ITS for the development of Speed- If ITS can find the people, it certainly has the space. From its high-rise 

DeX, a contact-management system needed during the transition from Macs perch atop NeXT's biggest market, ITS knows that staying close to cus- 

to NeXT machines at the firm. That project spawned other development tomers is what the NEXTSTEP business is all about. $ 

projects, which turned into a suite of NEXTSTEP utilities, including Cal- 

culator Set, WorldClock, and Shout, in addition to SpeedDeX. 

"We had this brave belief in becoming a shrinkwrapped-utilities devel- 
oper. But as 1992 wore on, the reality was that the market was not grow- 
ing fast enough," Shelton says. Meanwhile, the revenues from services and 



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Photograph by Karen Hirsch 



. ■ 



■■■■■ 



SIMSON00001969 



Learning Curve 






C M M E N T A R Y 



ay 
n 

m 



S 



,. In my company's move during the past year and a half to replace an aging and no- 
longer-supported mainframe development environment, I have had the chance 
to learn about many aspects of client-server technology and object-oriented 
development, specifically in the NeH environment. Here are a few points along 
my learning curve: 

• Demos are M, not reality. Through the use of IntertaceBuilder and DBKft, 
ft extremely easy to develop a slick prototype of a potential application or show 
off a particular feature of the platform. Vendors love to excite company develop- 
ers and management with their toys. 

Unfortunately, though, this approach builds a false sense of when an appli- 
cation may be delivered. To date, I have not seen one situation in which NeXTs 
development tools were used in the delivery of an application as they are for a 
demo. In the world of mission-critical apps, developers have to jump through a lot 
of hoops to deliver a product For example, new custom applications must be inte- 
grated into existing legacy systems 
and still provide data to those sys- 
tems. When working with a customer 
m developing the user interface of an 
application, there is no better tool to 
accomplish this than IntertaceBuilder. 
But customers have to be told that 
IntertaceBuilder only provides a graph- 
ical version of the interface and adding 
the functionality behind it will require 
a significant investment of time. 

• An operating system released 
for a new platform is actually Version 
1.0, even if it is labeled 3,1 Users 
should expect all of the problems they would normally expect from a first-release 
product. In the October 18, 1993, issue of PC Week, Rick Jackson, NEXTSUP 
product marketing manager, said that Release 3.2 incorporates more than 500 
bug fixes since 3.1. 1 find it disturbing that a product would have been released 
with so many flaws, especially when the product is going to be counted on as an 
integral part of information solutions. In the future, customers and developers 
need to prod NeXT to provide releases with far fewer bugs and far more informa- 
tion on potential problem areas. 

• DenrndbackmdcomoabWty. When dealing with multiple custom appli- 
cations, business users can't afford to go back and reworit an appliwtion because 
of changes in a new version of the OS. A purist will contend that changes are 
needed to maintain integrity and take advantage of the latest, hottest technology. 
But in a business setting, resources must be used to continue new development 
rather than to go back and update an application just because of an operating- 
system upgrade. If I have an application that is running successfully under Ver- 
sion 3.0, 1 expect it to run better under 3.1 and even better under 3.2. 

Unfortunately, this has not been my experience. An application that relies 
heavily on the Indexing Kit for data storage and access runs well under NEXTSTEP 
3.0, but upgrading to NEXTSTEP 3.1 results in some show- m Page 13 

Photograph by Steve Milanowski 





Eric Gwiazdowski has climbed the learning 
curve at a new Midwestern NEXTSTEP site. 



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Choosing a 
Programmer 

B U S ENESS STRATEGY 



I I i ^ 



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BP 






irap 



es & • r 






NO MATTER WHAT THE INDUSTRY OR LOCATION, EVERY NEXTSTEP CUSTOMER 

faces the same challenge once they decide to develop a mission-critical cus- 
tom app: How to get AppKit wizards into chairs and crunching code. 

Many customers and programmers report that it's hard to find experi- 
enced NEXTSTEP people. "This community is the size of a postage stamp," 
says Chris Younger, business development manager for Pencom Software, 
which hires developers to staff projects for firms that choose to go. with a 
systems integrator (a future Real World article will focus on how to find an 
integrator). *As object-oriented programming takes off and NeXT makes 
more sales, enthusiasm will breed a new crop of developers. In addition, uni- 
versities are now bringing NEXTSTEP into their computer-science curricula. 

But small can be beautiful - and useful. Firms looking for NEXTSTEP- 
sawy personnel usually don't have to go any farther than a referral from 
NeXT. Chrysler Financial, for example, followed NeXT's advice in finding 
programmers from Pencom. For San Diego-based financial trader Nicholas 
Appelgate, simple networking among friends brought together a core con- 
sultant team of former NeXT employees. Word of mouth is reliable and 
freely given, sources report. And one integrator is always on the lookout for 
developers who attempt to start small companies but can't quite make it. 

Hooking up with groups like ProNeXT, the alliance of users at large 
sites, can bring names of good programmers bubbling to the surface, but 
hiring people directly away from firms can cause animosity and lower 
morale. "People get pissed off [in those situations! an d remember;" says Ted 
Shelton, president of Chicago-based IT Solutions. Future hires and infor- 
mation sharing between companies can be compromised. 

Other alternatives for tracking down good help include contacting user 
groups, advertising in UNIX- or NeXT-specific publications, and, an increas- 
ingly popular choice, using the Internet and comp.sys.next news groups. 
Firms can post exact specifications and avoid having to filter through piles 
of resumes, knowing that good developers always stay on top of reading the 
Usenet groups. But act fast, says Sean Barkley, who hires for Systemhouse, 
because good programmers tend to go fast - another firm is looking to fill 
that seat as quickly as you are. 

Is this then a seller's market? Not quite, according to interviews. Sales 
of NEXTSTEP are increasing, but there's always a lag between evaluation 
and implementation of any project, so there's been no rush to the bank for 
qualified programmers. In addition, shops that decide against NEXTSTEP 
after evaluation put many good programmers back on the street, so compe- 
tition increases. In New York, for example, the loss of J. P. Morgan and 
scaling-back at Phibro Energy has led to "tough times," says Joe Barello, a 
long-standing developer who has done work for Chrysler Financial, Mar- 
ble & Associates, and Adobe. 

For firms, the trick is to network quickly enough after buying NEXT- 
STEP to attain an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the mar- 
ket. It also pays to make the purchasing decision in the proper economic 
context. "A lot of projects were put on hold during the recession" says Jules 
Roca, vice-president of sales and marketing for New York-based Respon- 
sive Management Solutions, which has placed programming consultants and 
hires at firms for 13 years. Good programmers tend not to be interested in 
working for a firm that puts out feelers and then pulls the plug. 

In a flat market, competition between NEXTSTEP-literate developers 
increases, but others aren't drawn into it. And flat doesn't mean lifeless: Firms 
can find competent help in Chicago; Washington, D.C.; and London (cur- 
rent NEXTSTEP hot spots, according to sources); as well as in slower mar- 
kets like New York. Also look at the markets for other platforms. Some 
programmers have a "religious" attachment to NEXTSTEP, while others 



JANUARY 1994 



know to bring "one other thing 
that isn't NeXT-related to the table," says New York developer Tim Reed 
Although customers often want perfection - NEXTSTEP sophistication 
along with a range of experience to understand complex heterogeneous: 
computing environments - enthusiasm and the ability to grasp new tech' 
nologies are the key factors when deciding on a hire. Some customers con 
duct problem-solving sessions during interviews, while others check to see 1 
that a programmer is well rounded and has outside interests. "One guy, a 
Mach expert, played volleyball with the best of them. And I heard recently 
he's going after a Ph.D. in genetic biology. These people usually have incredi- 
ble focus," says Pencom's Younger. 

Broad experience, however, doesn't assure success. Despite varying 
project needs, customers and developers alike cited a familiar list of tech- 
nologies as keys to finding a good NEXTSTEP programmer: Objective-Q 
Smalltalk, LISP, Sybase, Oracle, Mach, and others. C and C++ programmers 
sometimes don't have enough understanding of objects and often have M 
"unlearn" some practices. DOS and Windows experience is often useless, 
Despite various needs and a mix of technologies, three distinct skill sets 
seem to be emerging in the market, and pay rates will commonly differ aloi 
these lines. According to a Datamation magazine industry survey, junior 
application/OS programmers average $31,000, while application/OS pro- 
gramming managers command more than $68,000. Programmers in finan- ] 
cial services are averaging 8 percent to 14 percent above these figures, bii 
NEXTSTEP programmers are topping these industry averages. 

The least experienced programmers have some NEXTSTEP experi- 
ence, maybe from working on a project or at a university, or have writte 
a fair amount of object-oriented code. They may have some database 
experience. Hourly rates for these contract positions range from $40-$7G 
For staff positions, salaries range from about $25,000 to $40,000. 

The bulk of working NEXTSTEP programmers are journeymen with 
up to three years of direct experience. They've often had 3-5 years of addi- 
tional experience in Smalltalk and Objective-C before migrating to NEXT- 
STEP. They can have deep ex- 
pertise in databases, interface | 
design, networking, or a nut 
ber of other specialty areas, or i 
a broad range of experience m 
all areas. On an hourly basis, 
they can run from $80 to $175. 
Salaries fall in the $50,000- 
$100,000 range. 

Premier programmers can 
offer all the above experience 
as well as expertise in specific 
business domains, such as fi- ■: 
nancial trading or health care. 
Many programmers working 
in the NEXTSTEP market are well-known pioneers of systems in certain 
fields. They command anywhere from $200 to $300 per hour, while 
salaries can run "as far as you can possibly imagine," says System- 
house's Barkley. $ 




by Eliot Bergson 



Real World is a continuing series that looks at the nuts-and-bolts issues of 
implementing NEXTSTEP solutions in large organizations. 






g 



Photograph by Siuart Watsjh 



SIMSON00001971 










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SIMSON00001973 



f Geiger 
Counter 

0~S the Net 

Sic transit gloria mundi. As the Great 
Source Code Debate raged on (and 
on and on) - complete with name- 
calling and broken friendships - the 
NeXT community bemoaned the 
announcement that Conrad Geiger 
is leaving NeXT. In probably the 
only area of unanimous agreement 
on comp.sys.next this month, "the 
voice of NeXT on the Internet" was 
bailed as NeXT's foremost evange- 
list and one of the few who kept the 
faith through the dark days. Hopes 
are high that NeXT will move quickly 
to fill the void left by his departure. 
One consensus to come out of 
the source-code discussion: NeXT 
should provide better documentation 
of object classes, lessening develop- 
ers' need to license source. 

Computer Marketing 101. Rejoic- 
ing and confusion reigned as NeXT 
launched an ad campaign in Info- 
World and PC WEEK, running its 
eight-page brochure headlined, "Why 
would a perfectly sane and profitable 
company take a risk on object-ori- 
ented NEXTSTEP?" 

Rejoicing because: a) NeXT has 
finally seen the light and is advertis- 
ing to a "sane and profitable" tar- 
get audience, and b) the piece under- 
scores an actual product benefit (the 
answer to the headline: "The object 
is faster development"). 

Confusion because, though NeXT 
bought a demographic edition of 
each magazine, including the bro- 
chure only in selected circulation 
subsegments, InfoWorld listed the 
brochure in the ad index in all copies. 

Orphans of the storm. The specter 
of "beautiful magnesium '030 Cubes 
relegated to fax-server duty, while 
we buy our workstations from Wal- 
Mart" rose as the NeXT commu- 
nity considered a world whose only 
hardware-upgrade path is provided 
by third-party vendors, who may or 
may not appreciate the original NeXT 
vision. The "I'll never give up mag- 
nesium hardware" group may have 
to sacrifice performance. $ 

by S T E V E F R I C K E 



NEXTSTEP COMPATIBLE 

GUARANTEED TO PIEASE 




$4995 



□ 1486DX2/66 □ 32 MB RAM 560 MB SCSI HD 
□ ATI ULTRA VLB, 2MB VRAM □ ADAPTEC 1542C CNTRLR 

□ TOWER CASE □ EISA/VLB MOTHERBRD □ 17" MONITOR 

□ 101 KEYBOARD □ TEAC 1.44MB FLOPPY □ TOWER CASE 

OTHER OPTIONS 



VIDEO CARDS 

ATI Ultra Pro VLB or EISA w/ 2MB VEAM 
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MEMORY 

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in 4MB or 16MB 
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CONTROLLERS 

.All approved SCSI arid IDE controllers are 
offered including Adaptec, Buslogic, DPT 
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MULTI MEDIA OPTIONS 
Toshiba Intgemsd CD ROM, 200ms 

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HARD DRIVES 

Micropolisl Gig Fast SCSI-2 HD 10ms 
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Seagate 520 MB SCSI-2 HD 12ms 

Seagate 450 MB IDE HD 12ms 
western Digital 340 MB SCSI-2 HD 12ms 

MONITORS 

15" CTX 1024x768 Nl Low Radiation 
17"NanaoT550i 1280x1024 NI .28 
17" Mag 17F 1280x1024 NI .26 
17" Sceptre 1280x1024 NI ,26 Trinitron 
Other monitors on request 

ACCESSORIES 

I/O card w/ 16C550 Uart Chip 

RAID 7-Chassis Case w/ 3 Shuttles 
14.4 Baud Modems 
NextStep Software (Installed) 

NETWORK CARD OPTIONS 

Intel EtherExpress 16 
SMC Ethernet Elite 



GEC 

1901 E. University #300 Mesa, AZ 85203 

Fax: (602) 834-1522 BBS (602) 834-6662 

(800) 4864500 

Phone: (602) 834-1111 



QUALITY 

Above all, asystemfrom 
G.E.C. is quality. Very competi- 
tive pricing is just a little bonus, 
Our customers tell us that the 
reason they buy from us is they 
know the machine will work, and 
that if something happens to go 
wrong, a professional technician 
is going to make it right in a 
hurry. 

G.E.C. has set its stan- 
dard by insisting on quality com- 
ponents. These include NMB key- 
boards (used by Compaq) TEAC 
floppy disk drives (the industry 
standard) and taster 60ns RAM. 
Our customers take note of the 
little things like the Diamond 
series cases, quiet power sup- 
plies, the use of fan-cooled heat 
sinks on the CPU. 

EXPERIENCE 

Try dealing with a com- 
pany where every salesman 
knows NextStep standards and 
everytechnicianhas built, loaded 
and tested NextStep compatibles. 
Our techkians have received 
training in NextStep, workclosely 
with Next and with our custom- 
ers on compatibilty, and are in- 
volved in Next users groups. 

PRICE 

G.E.C. has found only 
one way to further lower your 
prices. Some of our competitors 
have done this, but our custom- 
ers have asked us to refrain. Do 
we know where to buy cheaper 
components? Yes. Wedon'tthink 
you want a $17 keyboard or a 
$35 non-UL approved case. We 
believe in sticking with compo- 
nents that have proven them- 
selves. We resist exchanging 
quality for price. We will offer 
youthebest prices possible, while 
the quality remains a constant. 




VISA 






SIM SON OOO0 1974 



^ATsJ 



ESSE 

An KV&T Lorn pan v 



- HEWLETT 
£1 PACKARD 



iny 



BORLAND 



NEC 








And for three days in January, it's ail well talk 
about at the First Annua! NEXTSTEP™ East Coast 
Developer Conference in Washington, D.C. It's 
an opportunity to experience object-oriented 
computing with NEXTSTEP, which Byte 
Magazine calls "...the most respected piece 
of software on the planet." STEVE JOBS 
KEYNOTE. Who better to demostrate how 
NEXTSTEP revolutionizes the development of 
mission-critical custom applications than Steve Jobs, 
Chairman and CEO of NeXT IT'S FOR EVERYONL Whether 
you're a new or seasoned NEXTSTEP developer, well pro 
vide you with opportunities to learn more about object 
technology. Get two full days of conference sessions, 
addressing various topics on object- oriented technology 




and the development of custom applications 
in client-server environments. Plus one day of 
NEXTSTEP tutorials to discover even more. 
DEVELOPER BUNDLE. Conference attendees are 
eligible to purchase NEXTSTEP User and 
Developer products plus Borland's InterBase 
SQL database server for just $995. That's a 
$5,000 savings, OBJECTS. OBJECTS. OBJECTS. See the 
latest NEXTSTEP products and solutions showcased by 
participating co-sponsors including Borland, HP, NCR, and 
NEC— just to name a few. BE THERE. Mark your calendar for 
January 24-26, 1994 to be at the Sheraton Washington in 
Washington D.C. This is the place to be if objects are in your 
future. Register by calling (800) 767-2336 (Outside the U.S. 
and Canada, call 508-470-3880). 



i 

i 
i 



i 



NEXTSTEP 

East Coast Developer Conference 



Circle 6 on reader service card 



AWBK 




SIM SON 0000 1975 









tep up with the hottest 
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SIM SON 0000 1976 



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iilliluillliiiiilihln 



Ilil.iL 



1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 j i ■ j 1 1 1 1 1 1 







SIM SON OOO0 1977 



C V N U I I I Y 



* Learning Curve 

slopping problems, NeXT willingly helped us resolve these issues, but we shouldn't 
have had to face them in the first place. To be successful, NeXT will need to rec- 
ognize the importance of backward compatibility to a business and address it 
accordingly. 

• Supporting your users under this environment will require more resources 
than you've probably anticipated. The move to a graphical user interface is a 
radical change for users m a traditional mainframe shop. Concepts such as mul- 
titasking, double-clicking, drag and drop, windows, and buttons will all require 
extensive training and ongoing support. The learning curve is steep. Look at how 
this issue will be handled and have a solution in place before deploying your first 
application. 

• The move to implement object-oriented development will require a greater 
commitment of time and people man you may envision. Build a solid foundation. 
The process of learning object-oriented concepts is relatively easy compared with 
that of implementing those philosophies within the confines of the business. And 
it all must be in place before the first application is ever delivered, even though 



this need conflicts with the business ethic that requires getting an application out 
the door and into the customers' hands as soon as possible. 

To have a successful rollout, management must be trained and possess a 
thorough understanding of the client-server model of object-oriented development 
If these people don't understand the payoffs and benefits of accepting this tech- 
nology, it won't survive in their organization. 

In addition, bring support personnel up to speed on the new technology and 
build foundation objects that all developers need; date, time, string, and intelli- 
gent-text fields. Establish consistent version-control and application-distribution 
techniques. 

Finally, get me vendor to make an investment of time and people beyond the sale: 
The success of the client will have a direct effect on the success of the vendor. 

Eric Gwiazdowski is an information-systems analyst for a large Mid- 
western retailer. 




Your NeXT 
know-how can lead 
to great things... 

... at Martin Marietta, the world's largest aerospace electronics com- 
pany. We can provide the resources and opportunities a top-notch 
career demands. With a focus on object-oriented technology, Martin 
Marietta specialists are applying the methodologies and tools using 
NeXTSTEP and Sybase to develop technical and financial client/ 
server applications. We also have the capability to develop and 
demonstrate the latest technologies to our customers in a sophisti- 
cated laboratory environment that few companies can match. 

With this perspective to support you, there is no limit to how much 
you can achieve here. Current openings in Reston, Virginia (subur- 
ban Washington, D.C.) exist for the following degreed professionals: 

NeXT Developers 

These roles require at least two years of NeXTSTEP and DBKit 
experience. 

Sybase Engineers 

You may qualify if you have three or more years of design experi- 
ence to include the migration of large legacy databases. 

U.S. citizenship is required; SSBI, or willingness to undergo 
such, is preferred. 

Take your know-how to new levels of achievement. Please fax your 
resume in confidence to Dept. OA9401 at (703) 821-3521 or mail 
immediately to: Martin Marietta, Dept. OA9401, 8080 Grainger 
Court, Springfield, VA 22153. An equal opportunity 7 employer. 



MARTIN MARIETTA 



Circle 58 on reader service card 



fr & 



\° 6 



fax modem. 
2 functions. 



prn m 



No hassles! 



J) -NeXIWorld, Best of Breed '93 

A single fax modem should handle data 
and faxes. But switching between them is a 
high-attention hassle. 

Unless you're using NXFax. 

NXFax is intelligent fax software that 
flawlessly handles both fax and data calls. 
It supports high-speed modems from ZyXEL, 



**~^*****^ 






t * 








NXFax | 






EM «€K£ 




fcr 


end '93 0000 - NeXTWarid, W 



Telebit, Supra, and others. And it's sold by 
people who live and breathe NeXT - for clear 
insight, answers, service, and support. 

It's the best way to get the most fax 
from NEXTSTEP. And at any price, the most 
from your money. NXFax software $135, 
modem packages with NXFax start at $500. 



w a n. 



>^---^ 



J Waitsfiety VT 05673-1210 • Fax: 802-496-5112 • nxfax@bandw.com 



Circle 79 on reader service card 



rdMTJdPVfOQ^ BBVTWIGIJ1 11 












SIMSON00001978 



C It 11 II II I I Y 



Manifest Destiny 



User Group News 



Few NeXT diehards will forget 
where they were on February 9, 
Black Tuesday, when they heard of 
the demise of black hardware. They 
certainly won't forget in Australia, 
home of OzNeXT, since these antipo- 
dal NeXT advocates had been plead- 
ing with Canon to bring NeXT hard- 
ware to Australia for nearly three 
years. And they did: The very next 
day, Canon and Data General an- 
nounced marketing and support for 
NeXT workstations in Australia and 
New Zealand. 

It seems that more than just the 
international date line separates Aus- 
tralia from the United States. As Oz- 
NeXT Vice President Aris Theochar- 
ides puts it, "Our members realize we 
are out here all alone, with practically 
no direct help from NeXT." Work- 
ing with NEXTSTEP has become a 
matter of taking destiny into their 
own hands. 

Australia's isolation made propri- 
etary NeXT hardware a problematic 



choice, but Dave Thomas, leader of 
the Sydney OzNeXT chapter and 
principal of Softpac, the country's 
leading NEXTSTEP dealer, says the 
Intel version could be a promising 
contender. "Australian users are used 
to being 11,000 miles from the clos- 
est support - so we're very much in 
favor of open systems." 

Thomas also points out that Aus- 
tralia is a world leader in UNIX seats 
per capita, having an even higher 
number than the United States. He 
ought to know, because Softpac has 
been advocating UNIX since 1975 
and Oracle databases since 1984. 
Comparing that to his missionary 
work for NEXTSTEP, a $165,000 
investment in seminars and market- 
ing in the last year alone, he says, 
"People thought I was bananas then, 
too!" 

Educational users in Australia 
were early adopters of NEXTSTEP. 
Nicole Kaiyan, a researcher at the 
Swinburne University of Technology, 



is working on next-generation vir- 
tual environments on her Cube. The 
music department at La Trobe Uni- 
versity is using NeXTcubes as IRCAM 
signal-processing workstations. Theo- 
charides is based at Monash Uni- 
versity. 

Another leading light of the Aus- 
tralian user community is Xedoc, 
the NEXTSTEP development house 
noted for its ports of Nethfo to other 
platforms (see "From Down Under 
to Everywhere," NeXTWORLD, 
November 1993). Brett Adam of 
Xedoc, who runs the Melbourne 
OzNeXT chapter, says, "In a sense, 
we've been waiting three years for 
NEXTSTEP to finally become a real- 
ity in Australia." 

Adam also runs the real back- 
bone of OzNext, its e-mail list. In a 
country the size of the United States 
but with only 18 million people, Oz- 
NeXT is a virtual community by 
necessity. OzNeXTies also hang out 
on the Usenet's NEXTSTEP discus- 
sion groups. As a result, OzNeXT's 
Internet connectivity may be its most 
persuasive membership benefit. 

The virtual user group has been 
working so well that OzNeXT has 



only recently made plans for quar- 
terly meetings, which were scheduled 
to begin this month. 

Since last summer (or winter, for 
the Aussies), the market has really 
picked up. Thomas believes that 
"we'll get higher market penetration 
versus NT in Australia than you will 
intheU.S." 

Idealogy, a Melbourne-based 
VAD, has added a new NEXTSTEP 
outfit under Rob Coulson, who says 
"it will take time to build up the mar- 
ket. Patience and cooperation with a 
bit of persistence will bring success." 

OzNeXT leaders are convinced 
that they have turned a corner. The 
disaffected band of neglected NeXT 
users in Australia has recognized that 
it, not NeXT or Canon, will ensure 
the success of NEXTSTEP there. As 
Adam puts it, "OzNeXT has to take 
the responsibility to make NEXT- 
STEP succeed because no one else 
wuT$ 

fryRoHiT Khare 




^SmartSoft' 

~^S S.p.ir, far -V f X T S T I P 



CI 993 Smarts* Inc. All Rights Reserved. SmartSoil 
and SlaylnTouch ate trademarks of SmartSotl. Inc. 
NEXTSTEP is a trademark of NeXT. Inc. 



A Powerful 
New Way To 
Stay In Touch! 

StaylnTouch™ is a sophisticated electronic 
address book that provides you with 
powerful features to help you increase your 
productivity in all your communication tasks. 

• Manage communications & addressing 
information more efficiently. 

• Drag & drop documents into an 
address book for quick reference. 

• Speed through routine mail, email, 
..'and phone calling tasks. 

• Manage multiple recipients effortlessly. 

• Deliver multiple items by fax, email or 
hard copy depending on destination. 

•Fully integrated with NEXTSTEP- use 
your information from any application. 

Write SmartSoft, Inc. at 2220 East Linimood 
Avenue, Milwaukee, Wl 5321 1 USA. 

email: lnfo@SmarlSofl.COM 




Circle 56 on reader service card 




CHaRtSMlTH is the presentation quality charting and 

graphing package for NEXTSTEP®. CHaRTSMITH 

combines high quality graphics and an B 

intuitive user interface to make | 

creating spectacular charts quick I 

and easy Let CHaRTSMITH I 

bring your data to life. I 

""V 2 

i^infoi6!i*com BL tRSMITH § 

i2I$0 Jlej Highway, Suife -^1, Arlington, VA 2220 1 % 



Circle 86 on reader service card 




SIM SON OOO0 1979 





Winner of the 1 993 NeXTWORLD Best of Breed Award, solicfThinking MODELER 
is a professional 3D modeler for NEXTSTEP platform featuring complex primitives 
with full NURB support, skinning, morphing, extruded and lathed profiles, curve 
lofting, editable 3D text, generation of shadows and reflection maps, and 
unlimited resolution. Now shipping version 1.2 for both Intel and NeXT platforms. 



*$$*■"• 






inf MODELER 



mbic Systems International Ltd, 
J Tel. 800.452.7608 
• Fax 303.799.1435 
info§aJembic.com 



Developed by 
GESTEL Italia srl 
Tel. ++39 444 964974 
Fax ++39 444 964984 
inb@solid.qestel.it 



Circle 76 on reader service card 



©1993 GESTEL Italia srl. All Rights Reserved. solidThinking is a trademark of GESTEL llalia srl. 
Design and Concept by Q" Image & Aclvertiang/GESTEL Italia. 



Circle 91 on reader service card 



SIMSON00001980 



"fWJ/f/fJ////////////////77777n 



Mr To 




Experience the Power of PowerGraphics System 



The most important factor in 
graphics performance is the 
architecture of the video frame 
buffer. It holds an image composed 
and stored by a host before send- 
ing out to the display. An ideal 
architecture is one that allows si- 
multaneous data transfer in and 
out of the frame buffer indepen- 
dently at maximum speed. The 
benefits are not only blazing speed, 
but also the ability to display high 
resolutions such as 1600x1200 in 
256 colors, 1152x900 in 64K col- 
ors, and 800x600 in 16M colors 
(true color). 



Compact footprint with ample 
capacity up to 6 drives 



■-■■■ 







dO/t7e- 







' 



«•'■ 



Both the JC/NX and JC/P9 are 
examples of systems with such 
an architecture. While the primary 
focus of the JC/NX is to bring 
top performance to NeXTSTEP, it 
is also a serious contender for high 
speed Windows and AutoCAD 
performance. In addition to the 
most powerful frame buffer, the 
JC/P9 is armed with the most 
complete and efficient set of graph- 
ics acceleration functions. Its 
reduced command set, similar to 
RISC technology in workstations, 
brings the best of two worlds, PC 
and workstation, to the desktop. 

- ■ High resolution JCV/l/e 
0.26mml7" monitor (optional) 

■ ■ Display units ranging from 15" 

to 21" monitors 




/ i 

1 

1 ! 
i I 







)' i j Lx.X.i j iii \ 

■ i ;-! -J I ' J II;' i 

I . • i- i f ' f .' . . I ' . f '! i ■ i ' i 

I -. i j i ii i i i I,..:. 
i' i i ii..; i i tana 



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TOO 



lti±i]\ \ \ \ 



.. 




■ JC2230486/66DX2Systemboard 
with power-saving features 



Ultra performance JC1440 video 
controller with 2M bytes Video RAM 
and 24-bit RAMDAC 



Multi-media kit: JC1660 16-bit stereo 
sound card, speakers, and 
CD/ROM drive 



Circle 62 on reader service card 



JC/NX, JC/P9, and JCV are trademarks of JC Information Systems C 
All other products are trademarks or registered trademarks of tb 




orporation. 



Storage option comes with various 
sizes 



JC Information Systems Corp. 

4487 Technology Drive 
Fremont, CA 94538 



eir respective companies. 



The PowerGraphics Company. (510) 659-8440 FAX (510) 659-8449 




SIM SON 0000 1981 




NEW S. 



GS Corporation launched its 
Collaggi database-publishing 
strategy with the announcement 
of Collaggi Palette, an extend- 
ed workspace utility it recently 
acquired from Digital Expres- 
sions. The product, previously 
released under the name Drag- 
book, organizes frequently used 
document elements in a drag- 
and-drop palette. It is the first 
in a planned line of Collaggi 
products from GS, including a 
graphing tool, a database engine, 
application modules, and mul- 
timedia extensions, that will be 
rolled out in stages during 1994. 
GS: 415/2574700. 

Trilithon Software has picked 
up where RightBrain left off and 
become an authorized Adobe 
reseller of Type 1 fonts. The 
move by Trilithon, makers of 
the utilities FontCase and View- 
Font, as well as Mac- and PC- 
font-conversion programs, helps 
solidify the font marketplace and 
offers one-stop shopping for 
NEXTSTEP users, according to 
the company. Trilithon: 415/ 
325-0767; info@trilithon.com. 

Hot Technologies has gotten a 
jump on PDO technology with 
its $149 SerialPortServer 2.0, 
a multithreaded server that 
allows applications built with 
SerialPortK.it to access periph- 
erals anywhere on a network. 
Hot also offers a $99 SerialPort- 
Server Lite that lacks remote- 
access capabilities. All Hot prod- 
ucts will be available from the 
Electronic AppWrapper in Jan- 
! uary. Hot Technologies: 617/ 
252-0088; Robert_La_Ferla@ 
hot.com. 

ASI, Alembic Systems Interna- 
tional, is now offering two new- 
products. Tailor, an editing tool 
for PostScript and EPS files, 
allows users to graphically edit 
any PostScript document, includ- 
ing multipage files imported 
from any platform that outputs 
to PostScript. Users can manip- 
ulate any element in a file and ' 
then save it back in PostScript 

form. [CONTINUED ON PAGE 21] 




MT takes A giant step for NeXT-kind 

object story 
to Comdex 



SunSoft adopts 
NeXT objects 



by Dan Ruby and 
Dan L a v i n 

Las Vegas, NV - Playing for the 
first time on the floor of the na- 
tion's biggest computer trade 
show, NeXT fought to rise above 
the noise level at Comdex Fall 
1993. Featuring NEXTSTEP 3.2, 
the Portable Distributed Object 
(PDO) system, and a range of 
third-party tools, the company 
made its case for object-oriented 
development among a sea of 2300 
exhibitors, most focused on the 
mainstream personal-computer 
market. [see Comdex, page 21] 



by Lee Sherman 

Redwood Shores, CA - NeXT's 
historic agreement with SunSoft, 
announced here November 23, 
leaves NeXT with a dual role as 
operating-system vendor and pro- 
vider of open-systems technology. 

Under the agreement, Sun will 
license portions of NEXTSTEP for 
use in a future version of its Solaris 
operating system, and NeXT will 
bring a native version of NEXT- 
STEP to Sun's SPARC-based com- 
puters in the second half of 1994. 

As part of the agreement, Sun 
has made a $10-million equity 
investment in NeXT. SunSoft Pres- 



vljune 

San JStc 



1994 



Tat 



Wri 



Tta 



•NeXTWORLDEXPQ'94 
• Moscone Convention Center, 

San Francisco ' 
•June 20-23, 1994 




See story, page 20 

NeXTwoos 



by Dan Rub y 

San Jose, CA - NeXT went a long 
way toward reassuring restless 
developers in a closed briefing here 
in November. 

The program included detailed 
sales plans, financial results, and 
product plans, but "no announce- 
ments or surprises," according to 
one attendee. The invitation-only 
event included 46 representatives 
from 30 third-party companies. 

"The overall mood was con- 
ciliatory toward developers. They 
recognize that it is not enough to 
have custom apps, that they can't 
succeed without us," said one at- 



The NeXT- 

SunSoft news 

broke at 

deadline. 

NeXMORLD 

will provide 

full details and 

analysis in 

the February 

issue. 



developers 



tendee who asked not to be named. 

"We don't want to be a tools 
company. We sell an operating sys- 
tem, and operating systems need 
application software," said Ron 
Weissman, NeXT's director of 
corporate marketing, who spoke 
to NeXTWORLD prior to the 
meeting. 

Other attendees had a general- 
ly favorable response to the meet- 
ing. "More than the specifics, I 
was impressed by the attitude of 
openness and candor," said one. 
"It is evident that NeXT is being 
run by a professional management 
team," said another. 

The brief- [see Developers, page 21] 



ident Ed Zander said the compa- 
ny is buying "time to market," 
acknowledging NeXT's two- to 
three-year lead in object-oriented 
technology over competing ven- 
dors such as Taligent and Micro- 
soft (see related story below). 

NeXT will define and publish 
a specification called OpenStep, 
which consists of a subset of the 
existing APIs in NEXTSTEP 3.2. 
Although details are still being 
worked out, the specification is 
expected to include all portions of 
NEXTSTEP that are independent 
of the operating system, including 
AppKit, DBKit, Display PostScript, 
distributed objects, and Objective- 
C. The specification, to be pub- 
lished by June 30, 1.994, will be 
freely licensed to all comers in a 
move to make NEXTSTEP the 
standard operating and develop- 
ment environment for client-serv- 
er systems. Talks have begun with 
standards bodies on administer- 
ing the licensing process. 

NeXT CEO Steve Jobs likened 
NeXT's decision to license its tech- 
nology to the approach taken by 



Solaris layers 



Object Applications 



OpenStep Specification 



NEXTSTEP App Environment 



DOE Object System 



Solaris 



SPARC 



x86 



PowerPC 



Adobe Systems with PostScript in 
the early 80s. PostScript is now 
the industry-standard page-de- 
scription language. 

Sun's decision to marry Open- 
Step with its Solaris operating 
system will come as a surprise to 
many in the open-systems com- 
munity who have long viewed 
NEXTSTEP as a proprietary oper- 
ating system. "I was surprised we 
could pull this off given our reli- 
gious differences. We didn't know 
what church to get married in," 
said Scott McNealy, Sun's CEO.* 



Alliance sets object standard 



by Dan L a v i n 

Redwood Shores, CA - NeXT's 

agreement with SunSoft signals an 
industry realignment in the emerg- 
ing battle over object standards. 

"Our mission is to establish 
OpenStep as the alternative to 
[Microsoft] Cairo," said NeXT 
CEO Steve Jobs. 

"Taligent [from Apple and IBM] 
is in danger of being relegated to 
the back room," said Craig Sul- 
tan, vice-president of Montgomery 
Securities in San Francisco. "Cairo 
may be most valuable for connect- 
ing applications together, with 
OpenStep viewed as the high-end 
robust solution." 

The deal raises questions for 
the Common Open Systems Envi- 
ronment (COSE) initiative, an 
industry alliance aimed at provid- 
ing a unified UNIX environment. 
According to SunSoft President 



Ed Zander, COSE covers interfaces 
only for procedural, not object- 
oriented, applications. 

Unlike COSE, the Sun-NeXT 
initiative is grounded in solid tech- 
nical details, said Chris Stone, 
president of Object Management 
Group. "What we wanted to see 
happen for four years is finally 
starting to happen," he said. 

NeXT and Sun will encourage 
other COSE members to adopt 
OpenStep. Hewlett-Packard is 
already working with NeXT on 
Object'Enterprise and may sign 
up as an OpenStep partner. 

"Sun's announcement repre- 
sents an endorsement of NeXT's 
technology leadership, some- 
thing that HP has already recog- 
nized and embraced," said an 
HP spokeswoman. "HP is pleased 
that NeXT's products will now 
be available to an even wider 
audience."® 



SIM SON 0000 1982 



HeXTWORLD extra 



NS gets visualization tool 



by S i m s o n L . Garfinkel 

Boulder, CO - Visual Numerics 
is porting its high-end visual data- 
analysis application, PV-Wave 
Advantage, to NEXTSTEP at the 
request of Chicago Research and 
Trading (CRT), one of NeXT's 
largest financial customers. 

The program "provides inte- 
grated analysis and visualization," 
said Matthew Powell, Visual 
Numerics' strategic alliances man- 
ager. "It takes previously disparate 
functions and combines them in 
one package." 



PV-Wave Ad- 
vantage can be 
used as a stand- 
alone app or as a 
basis for custom- 
app development. 
The system can 
link directly with 
database systems 
to perform 2-D 
and 3-D analyses 
of very large cor- 
porate databases. 

The firm had not considered a 
port of the application until asked 
by CRT. "CRT hired our profes- 




Miter Works ships 
first NEXTSTEP models 



by Simson L. Garfinkel 

Kenrfield, CA - The Printer Works 
has completed development of a 
large-format, high-resolution print- 
er and delivered the first beta unit 
to NeXT, according to company 
president Steve Roberts. 

The printer, based on Canon's 
BX engine, can print up to eight 
pages per minute on paper up to 
11 by 17 inches at a resolution of 
600 dpi. It connects to white or 
black computers running NEXT- 
STEP through the computer's SCSI 
interface. Pages are rendered using 
NEXTSTEP'S Display PostScript 



interpreter and GS Corporation's 
eXTRAPRINT laser-printer driver. 

NeXT is using the printer to 
print the master pages of its tech- 
nical manuals, Roberts said. "If 
you look at the old manuals, they 
were run off on the original NeXT 
laser printer. This is quire an im- 
provement." 

Printer Works has set the sug- 
gested retail price of the printer, 
driver software, and bundled Adobe 
"right-to-print" license at $3995. 
Production units were scheduled 
to be available in late December 
or early January. 

Printer Works: 510/887-6116. $ 



PV-Wave 
is a tool 

for visual- 
izing com- 
plex data- 
sets from 
large rela- 
tional data- 
bases. TWs 
screen 
shows the 
Motif 
version. 



sional-services group to do a spe- 
cial port,"Po\vell said. "Once 
something like that happens, we 
decide to go ahead and productize 
it, because the initial engineering 
is paid for by a customer." 

PV-Wave Advantage is priced at 
$6995 on Sun workstations, but 
a price for the NEXTSTEP version 
has not yet been set. The program 
should be commercially available 
in the second quarter of 1994. 

Visual Numerics: 303/530- 
9000. # 



WriteUp will support 
WordPerfect files 



by Paul Curthoys 

In the wake of WordPerfect's an- 
nounced withdrawal from the 
NeXT market in November, Ander- 
son Financial Systems (AFS) moved 
nimbly to fill the gap, announcing 
that it would accelerate develop- 
ment of its WordPerfect filter for 
WriteUp, a word processor that the 
company is currently developing. 

AFS's WriteUp/WP document- 
interchange bundle was original- 
ly scheduled for release this June, 
but delivery has been pushed up 
to March. With the filter, WriteUp 
users will be able to automatical- 
ly open WordPerfect files and save 
their documents in the WordPer- 
fect format. 

The company is also planning 
to develop filters for Microsoft 
Word and WriteNow, said Michael 
Pizolato, chief technology officer 



at AFS, but no release dates have 
been set. 

Meanwhile, WordPerfect firmed 
up plans to ease users through its 
departure from the NeXT plat- 
form. In January, the company 
intends to ship an interim release 
of WordPerfect 1.0.1 that will pro- 
vide a final round of enhancements 
and fixes. Changes will include 
correct mapping of the NeXT 
German keyboard, link-language 
files, fixes to the ASCII converter, 
the ability to save the paper size 
of the primary merge file during 
a merge, corrections to the use of 
the macro editor's extended char- 
acters, and updates to the French 
and German versions. 

In addition, WordPerfect will 
continue to provide NEXTSTEP 
users with technical support for 
one year from the date of the 
interim release. Jl 



Low-cost databases with IXAdaptor 



Dolphin manages docs 



by Eliot B e r g 5 o n 

Los Angeles - The workgroup- 
publishing market gained a new 
entrant in November as Dolphin 
Technologies announced that its 
Author! Author! document-man- 
agement software will ship in early 
1994. 

Working directly with the 
NEXTSTEP File Viewer, the pack- 
age is designed to transparently 
track and record changes to any 
text or image documenrs. Any 
number of users can share or read 
a document at the same time, but 
only one user can lock it for revi- 
sion, the company said. 

Author! Author! uses high-speed 
indexing technology to search 
and retrieve documents, even over 
multiple databases, and provides 
security through configuration 
options. The software reportedly 
works with an unlimited number 
of applications. 

is mam January 1994 



Single-user licenses cost $295 
per user; multiple-user licenses 
are $995 per user. Dolphin Tech- 
nologies: 310/331-9021; info® 
dolphin.com. % 



by Paul Curthoys 

Cambridge, MA - With the release 
of VNP Software's IXAdaptor in 
November, NEXTSTEP users can 
now build low-cost single-user 
relational databases, according to 
the company. 

A DBKit adapter that stores 
data in Indexing Kit files, DCAdap- 
tor works in conjunction with 
Indexing Kit files and the DBMod- 
eler to function as a relational 
database. 

IXAdaptor supports all of DB- 
Kit's features, including a subset 
of standard ANSI-SQL, joins, 
transactions, and the capability to 
bind custom objects to database 
attributes. For joins and updates, 



IXAdaptor automatically builds 
an index for any attribute desig- 
nated as a primary key or specified 
in a relationship. In addition, its 
ability to import and export flat 
files permits conversion between 
other data sources. 

By functioning in Interface- 
Builder test mode, the company 



said, IXAdaptor also lets devel- 
opers quickly prototype database 
applications without having to 
select a platform or move to a more 
advanced, multiuser RDBMS. 

IXAdaptor runs $245 per seat. 
VNP Software can be contacted at 
802/496-7799, 802/496-7790 fax; 
IXAdaptor_Info@vnp.com, 9 



Lighthouse revs apps 



Graphics punch for Intel 



by Paul Curthoys 

Santa Clara, CA - New graphics 
cards have landed on the NEXT- 
STEP for Intel platform, and they 
pack a lot of power. 

miro Computer, a subsidiary of 
the Braunschweig, Germany-based 
miro Computer Products AG, has 
introduced a line of miroCrysta! 
graphics cards based on the S3 
86C-series processors. 

At the high end, the miroCrys- 
tal 32s offers 4MB of VRAM, 8- 
and 16-bit color at 1408 bv 1024 



pixels, and 24-bit color at 1024 
by 768 pixels. 

"The 32s allows you to run very 
high-res 24-bit color at a very high 
speed. It's the only recourse under 
NEXTSTEP for people with very- 
demanding graphics applications," 
said Randall Stickrod, executive 
director of miro. 

The miroCrystal cards start 
at $229 and run to $899 and come 
with a suite of bundled utilities, 
miro Computer can be reached 
at 408/727-1558, 408/988-2515 



by Eliot Bergson 

San Mateo, CA - The 
crew at Lighthouse 
Design had a busy fall, 

The company in 
October shipped Foun- 
dation Classes 2.1, a 
library of 15 Objective- 
C classes designed to 
speed software devel- 
opment. The library in- 
cludes a string class, an 
error-reporting class, 
and a set of collection classes for 
lists, sets, stacks, and queues. 

Foundation Classes costs $4995 
for object code for five developers 
and $9995 for source code. 

Lighthouse also shipped Task- 
Master 1.5, an update to its inte- 
grared project-management app 
that adds data compatibility with 
Microsoft Project and Claris Mac- 
Project, as well as support for 
mpx (Microsoft Project Exchange) 




Concurence 1.2 brings presentation-building to Intel users. 



files. TaskMaster retails for $1395. 

And fat-binary versions of Dia- 
gram! 2.1 and Concurrence 1.2 
have been released. The software 
sells for $499 and $995, respec- 
tively, but current registered users 
can upgrade for a "nominal" 
media fee, according to the com- 
pany. 

Lighthouse Design can be con- 
tacted at 415/570-7736; info® 
lighthouse.com. ^ 



SIMSON00001983 



t 



ave 




Judging from the outside, 
you'd never expect it to be such a 
screamer. But when you power it 
up, hold on. Presenting the Epson 
NX for NEXTSTEP* with a 
scorching Intel* DX2/66 MHz 
microprocessor. The NX's revolu- 
tionary . Wingine" video technology 
displays NEXTSTEP applications 
significantly faster than other 
systems. The NX is even faster right 
out of the box, because NEXTSTEP 
is pre-loaded on the hard disk. Just 
unpack, plug in and play. 

Sit down with your NX and 
everything feels very familiar. It 
feels right, with none of the tearing 
or submarining of other systems. It 
even achieves the native resolution 
of the original NeXT" system. No 
question about it, the Epson NX 
operates just like a NeXT machine, 
only better. Call, the Epson 
Connection™ at 1-800-BUY-EPSQN 
for information about the Epson 
computer that runs NEXTSTEP 
even better than the original, . 



INGRAM HF™! 



SIM SON 0000 1984 



I i X T M I I D EXTRA 



Object Channel picks up members SCO pro takes helm of 



by Paul Curthoys 

Redwood City - NeXT kicked 
off its new Object Channel pro- 
gram, which is designed to help 
NEXTSTEP systems integrators 
offer object-oriented expertise to 
corporate accounts, by signing 
on four new systems-integration 
firms in November. 

Pencom Software, Diian, Prox- 
ima, and Advance 2000 all agreed 
to work with the Object Channel 



DEA 



Back when 
NeXT was still 
manufacturing 
hardware, the 
company set up 
a toll-free num- 
ber so that indi- 
viduals and 
small business- 
es could find dealers in their area. 
Today, the number is used to pro- 
vide information about all NeXT 
products and services, including 
references to local dealers. 

A call to 800/TRY-NEXT 
found a friendly NeXT represen- 
tative with a list of supposed 
local dealers in the Connecticut, 
New York, and Boston areas that 
ranged from specialized systems 
integrators to Canon corporate. 
While the Sleuth hoped to find 
dealers that sold configured NEXT- 
STEP for Intel systems, what he 
discovered instead was that the 
small dealer channel has been com- 



to integrate NEXTSTEP into the 
information systems of their busi- 
ness customers. NeXT will provide 
the new members with discounts 
on NEXTSTEP, sales assistance, 
and training for their support per- 
sonnel. 

"Customers benefit from de- 
creased time to market of their 
custom applications, and systems 
integrators benefit from reusable 
code and the ability to take on 
more projects and increase rev- 



1 ' *lfegn 




CHANNEL 
SLEUTH 



pletely gutted by NeXT's switch 
to a software-only manufacturing 
and marketing strategy. 

Although the Sleuth was as- 
sured by NeXT that the list had 
been recently updated, the results 
of the random phone poll were 
disappointing. One of the numbers 
was no longer in service, another 
said it might have some black hard- 
ware in stock but would have to 
check, another said it no longer 
sold NeXT products, and anoth- 
er, who specializes in graphics, ad- 
mitted to having reverted back to 
its bread-and-butter Mac business. 

With the demise of this chan- 
nel, graphic-design firms, archi- 
tects, realtors, advertising agen- 
cies, recording studios, and other 
small businesses are far less likely 
to choose NEXTSTEP. 

Each month, the Sleuth will look 
at a different aspect of NEXT- 
STEP distribution. 



enues," said Bill Wesemann, vice- 
president of North American sales 
at NeXT. 

NeXT will also supply the new 
members with an Object Channel 
representative, a NeXT employee 
assigned to support them as they 
work with customers. 

Companies that are interested 
in joining the Object Channel 
should contact NeXT for further 
details at 415/366-0900, 800/ 
879-6398. % 



Catalog puts 
spotlight on 
health care 

Continuing its strong push into 
the heakh-care industry, NeXT 
released NeXT in Healthcare, a 
catalog of NEXTSTEP products 
targeted at the health-care market. 

Scheduled to be available in Jan- 
uary, the book opens with descrip- 
tions of three premier NEXTSTEP 
installations at hospitals, such as 
Mt, Clemens in Detroit, as well as 
an overview of NEXTSTEP itself. 

The book focuses on outlining 
the assortment of NEXTSTEP 
health-care software. Everything 
from medical-information man- 
agement systems to radiographic 
scanners to an on-line anatomi- 
cal atlas is Listed. 

The catalog also details a variety 
of third-party productivity appli- 
cations and a wide assortment of 
Object Ware. % 



IMT services business 




by Dan 

L a v I N 

Redwood City - 

Seeking to boost 
its services busi- 
ness, NeXT in 
November hired 
Angela Spear- 
man as director of professional 
services, giving her responsibility 
for ail NeXT training and cus- 
tomer support. 

With Spearman's hire, her 35- 
person group moves back from 
the software organization to the 
sales and marketing organization. 
Spearman will report to Warren 
Weiss, vice-president of North 
American sales and marketing. 

"Everything we do now at 
NeXT is a profit center. Her group 



will be profitable by first quarter 
of 1994 and will represent about 
ten percent of the company's rev- 
enue," said Weiss. 

The organization provides a 
range of services, including edu- 
cational classes, premium support 
for developers and administra- 
tors, hot-line support for techni- 
cal questions, and NeXT's new 
mentorship program. 

Spearman comes from the Santa 
Cruz Operation (SCO), where she 
was previously director of SCO's 
130-person technical support ser- 
vices and quality department. 

"She knows more about UNIX 
in Intel than anyone else I've been 
around, SCO has fallen into all 
the holes surrounding these issues, 
and Angela's experience will guide 
us around them," said Weiss. j£ 



ITS porting OpenMail 



by Eliot Bergson 

Chicago - Information Technol- 
ogy Solutions (ITS) has been 
tapped by Hewlett-Packard to 
develop a new NeXTmail appli- 
cation that will act as a user agent 
to HP's OpenMail system. The 
delivery date for the first phase of 
the project is late March or early 
April, according to Ted Shelton, 
ITS president and CEO. 

That first deliverable will be able 
to talk directly to HP OpenMail 
from NeXTmail, obviating the cur- 



rent need to either talk to Open- 
Mail through SMTP or use the 
UNIX file system to store messages. 
Shelton said that in the fall of this 
year, the final product will be fully 
integrated into the OpenMail sys- 
tem, offering ail the functionality 
of OpenMail clients, including ac- 
cess to bulletin boards, intelligent 
mail filtering, multiple message 
boxes, and shared attachments. 

HP currently offers OpenMail 
on Windows, HP Vue, and Motif. 

ITS: 312/587-2000; 800/394- 
4487. % 



New corporate user 

group takes shape D.C. meeting ready, SF show set 



by Eliot Bergson 

Following the example of Pro- 
NeXT, the alliance of users at cor- 
porate sites formed two years ago, 
a new and as-yet-unnamed cor- 
porate user group has sprung up 
among information executives at 
Midwestern NEXTSTEP sites. 

According to Mike Adelson, 
project manager at Chrysler 
Financial, the group first met in 
August and consists of Chrysler 
Financial; Swiss Bank Corpora- 
tion; Temerlin McClain; Pan- 
Canadian Petroleum; Abbott Labs; 
Rogers Cantell, a Toronto-based 
telecommunications partner of 
McCaw Cellular; and at least one 
other unnamed firm. A represen- 
tative from ProNeXT spoke to 
the group at the first meeting on 



basic organization issues and how 
to structure the group along the 
lines of the "object-oriented par- 
adigm," Adelson said. 

The group is not seen as a com- 
petitor to ProNeXT but instead 
as a way to ensure a common 
message to that group as well as 
NeXT. "We just wanted some- 
thing for the Midwest, where we 
could get together easily and share 
ideas. All of us are within four 
hours of each other," Adelson said. 
The Midwest group will contin- 
ue to be active in, and send repre- 
sentatives to, ProNeXT meetings. 

The next meeting is scheduled 
to take place in Chicago in Jan- 
uary. Users at Midwestern NEXT- 
STEP sites are welcome to con- 
tact him about joining, Adelson 
said. 



by Paul Curthoys 

The NEXTSTEP community will 
have double the chance to meet 
and exchange ideas as NeXT 
launches the first-ever East Coast 
Developer Conference in Washing- 
ton, D.C. this month, and NeXT- 
WORLD plans for the 1994 NeXT- 
WORLD Expo in San Francisco 
on June 20-23. 

Keynote addresses from Steve 
Johs and Paul Strassman, former 
director of defense information 
for the U.S. government, will kick 
off the developer conference, which 
will be held January 24—26. 

NeXTWORLD Expo '94 will 
return to Moscone Convention 
Center in San Francisco. The three- 
day program will include confer- 
ences for NEXTSTEP developers 



and users, a product exposition, 
meeting of user groups, and a 
curriculum of NEXTSTEP tuto- 
rials. A call for panel participation 
was distributed in November. To 
apply, contact the organizers at 
NWX_94_conference@next.com 
or 508/470-3880, 

The East Coast Developer Con- 
ference offers four session tracks 
for NEXTSTEP information-sys- 
tem managers, system adminis- 
trators, and developers. 

One track, "NeXT in the Mar- 
ketplace," gives managers an over- 
view of the technical services and 
development opportunities under 
NEXTSTEP. "The Art of Design" 
sessions cover the, principles of 
object-oriented design, while "A 
Closer Look" delves into NEXT- 
STEP'S object kits and distributed 



objects. And "Hardware is Inevi- 
table" explores the various hard- 
ware platforms that NEXTSTEP 
can run on, as well as system- 
administration issues. General 
sessions and tutorials fill out the 
program. 

Registration fees for the East 
Coast Developer Conference are 
$595, and the tutorials cost an 
additional $200 per session. Atten- 
dees will also have the opportu- 
nity to purchase a $995 software 
bundle that includes the user and 
developer versions of NEXTSTEP 
3.2, a single-user license to Bor- 
land's InterBase SQL database 
server, and the DBKit InterBase 
Adapter. For more information, 
call Digital Consulting, the con- 
ference organizer, at 508/470- 
3880 or 800/767-2336. % 




SIM SON 0000 1985 











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Derno copies are also available 
via ftp from cs.orst.edu and 
nova.cc.purdue.edu. The soft- 
ware sells for $495 or $248 edu- 
cational. ASI is also now offering 
Xedoc's Netlnfo network-admin- 
istration tools for Auspex, HP, 
IBM, DEC, and SPARC servers. 
The package allows sysadmins 
to use NEXTSTEP'S graphical 
administration tools to manage 
different UNIX workstations on 
a network. ASI also announced 
that its European subsidiary has 
become the exclusive U.K. dis- 
tributor for the Epson NX. ASI: 
303/799-6223; info@alembic. 
com. ASI Europe: 44/335/254- 
75; chris@alembic.com. 

Gestel Italia in November shipped 
Version 1.2 of solidThinking 
MODELER, its 3-D modeling 
system. The company also moved 
into new offices. It can now be 
reached at Viale dell'Oreficeria 
30/P, 1-36100 Vicenza, Italy. 39/ 
444/96.49.74, 39/444/96.49.84 
fax; info@solid.gestel.it, 

TimeFlies, even for those hip 
developers at Mouthing Flow- 
ers, who have released a fat- 
binary upgrade of the company's 
time-management app. Time- 
Flies 2.2 allows users to set 
alarms for sending e-mail, dis- 
playing a message panel, or play- 
ing a sound. Demo copies are 
on the archive servers sonata.cc. 
purdue.edu and cs.orst.edu; a 
licensed copy costs S45 or $24 
for students, seniors, and dis- 
abled users. Mouthing Flowers: 
206/325-7870; timebugs@ 
mouthers.wa.com. 

Single Source, a systems-inte- 
gration and software-develop- 
ment firm that has been an 
authorized NeXT dealer for two 
years, was ranked 248 in Inc. 
magazine's October issue on the 
500 fastest-growing private 
companies. The firm provides 
project-management and devel- 
opment services for the com- 
mercial, manufacturing, and 
health-care markets. Single 
Source: 317/253-0665. 

CKS, NeXT's advertising agency, 
has earned another kudo, this 
time in the Communication Arts 
34th Design Annual. CKS was 
tapped for its design of NeXT's 
Evaluation Kit, which has a close- 
up of an InterfaceBuilder screen 
reflecting in a man's glasses. The 
image was used on the kit's book, 
video, disk, and cover packaging. 
The Design Annual is a compi- 
lation of editor's choice awards 
in a variety of advertising and 
promotional fields. 



Comdex [from page v\ 

"We're here to raise the flag for 
NeXT and to keep in front of the 
computer press," said Lauren Flan- 
agen-Sellers, president of GS Cor- 
poration and one of eight third par- 
ties who participated in the booth. 
She added that traffic through the 
exhibit was heavy, ranging from 
existing NeXT customers to seri- 
ous prospects to tire kickers. 

Beyond the NeXT booth, NEXT- 
STEP was displayed on Intel sys- 
tems in the exhibits for Dell, 
Epson, DEC, Data General, S3, 
and JCIS. 

The unifying theme of the NeXT 
booth was extensibility, starting 
with a revised demonstration of 
PDO, which was used in a Black- 
Sholes pricing analysis. Many of 
the third parties showed applica- 
tions that include object palettes 
and other links into customer- 
developed systems. 

Exhibiting with NeXT were 
RDR, Athena Design, Lighthouse 
Design, GS Corporation, Pages 
Software, Blue Rose Systems, 
and Logibec/PSI. "It isn't just the 
usual suspects," said David Spitz- 
ler, a NeXT developer advocate. 
"It shows the vitality of the NEXT- 
STEP market." 

By helping to defray the cost 
of the booth, the third parties con- 



tributed to a broader presence 
than NeXT would have attempt- 
ed on its own. In past years, NeXT 
has come to Comdex with private 
suites or receptions, but has not 
ventured onto the show floor. 

Among PC manufacturers dis- 
playing NEXTSTEP, most grouped 
it with specialty environments for 
their most advanced hardware de- 
signs. Dell, for example, featured 
NEXTSTEP as one of four ad- 
vanced systems along with Micro- 
soft's Windows NT, SunSoft's 
Solaris, and IBM's OS/2. 

According to Tom Hartsell, 
Dell's manager of advanced sys- 



tems business solutions software, 
Dell's hardware support for NEXT- 
STEP will expand to four designs 
with base prices ranging from 
$2000 to $5000. "Dell intends 
to be a major player in the NeXT 
market. That's significant, be- 
cause most of the major PC ven- 
dors in this building aren't even 
giving it a chance," he said. 

By putting NEXTSTEP on 
equal footing with these other 
32-bit operating systems, Dell is 
providing "a level playing field," 
Hartsell said. "One of these 
four systems is going to be the 
winner."^ 



Developers (from pace t?i 

ing featured presentations from 
NeXT senior executives and mar- 
keting managers, a panel discus- 
sion that included four third-party 
developers, and a two-hour feed- 
back session. 

According to Weissman, the 
two "tough questions of the day 
are the implications of SoftPC and 
how developers can align with 
NeXT's custom-application strat- 
egy." On the first issue, NeXT 
told the developers that it is impor- 
tant to support Windows appli- 
cations, but it expects most cus- 
tomers to favor native applications 



because they can integrate with 
custom apps. 

To better align with NeXT's 
strategy, developers were encour- 
aged to make their applications 
extensible with APIs and object 
palettes, supplement their software 
revenues with related products 
and services, and form partner- 
ships with customers. 

Missing from the agenda was 
any discussion of NeXT's own plans 
for application software, except 
in a trial balloon from Steve Jobs, 
who speculated that NeXT might 
want to acquire one or more third- 
party developers in the future. $ 



Canon nabs 
Epson execs 

by Dan L a v i n 

Canon Computer Systems (CCSI) 
is expected to aggressively enter 
the NEXTSTEP for Intel market 
after a trio of executives from 
Epson America joined the rival 
company in November. 

At present, Epson is the lead- 
ing supplier of Intel systems for 
the NEXTSTEP market. The exec- 
utives and their former titles are 
Steve Huey, vice-president of PC 
product management; Bret Gutz- 
ka, manager of strategic business- 
es; and Al Thomason, director of 
original product designs. Neither 
company would comment. 

The development is unrelated to 
the product plans of Powerhouse, 
the company associated with 
Canon that was formed from the 
remnants of NeXT's hardware 
operations, according to sources. 

CCSI, a division of Canon USA, 
is headed by Yasuhiro Tsubota, 
who founded Epson America. He 
left Epson in 1990 and consulted 
for Steve Jobs at NeXT before he 
took his position at CCSI. % 



Sullivan's mouth closed over OpenStep 



Lt. Sullivan 



Lt. Sullivan thought something big was up when he bumped into SunSoft's 
Ed Zander and Bud Tribble in the NeXT lobby in late October, He knew he 
was right when he got an urgent message asking him to muzzle his curios- 
ity. An early leak could kill the deal, he was told. 

Still, he couldn't help squeezing Scott McNealy a little when he bumped into 
the Sun CEO at Comdex. Scott had little to say, other than "Tribble was the best 
hire we ever made." Now this column goes to press before the news is final, but 
it looks sweet for the NeXT faithful. One tip: Look for some other big names to 
sign up for OpenStep before the year is out. 

The deals are the capper to an interesting month, begin- 
ning with Sullivan's stopover in San Jose for the exclusive 
Developer Briefing. He wasn't on the invite list, of course, but 
that was nothing thai a late-night round-robin at the hotel bar 
couldn't cure. 

Most of Sully's confidantes pronounced themselves 
pleased by NeXT's attitude and promised sales, though NeXT 
may be hedging slightly on its plan to move 100,000 units 
in 1994. The biggest surprise of the event was Steve's mus- 
ings about possible software acquisitions, which left more 
than one developer muttering the words Claris and Appsoft. 

Another surprise was the plan NeXT is putting togeth- 
er for European indirect distribution. The only problem is 
they forgot to run it past d'ART's Wilfried Beeck, who is 
understandably protective about his share of the lucrative 
German market. Back to the drawing board. 

Also out of Germany comes the news that HSD's par- 
ent company, itself a subsidiary to a Berlin-based holding company, is reorga- 
nizing under German bankruptcy laws. Now Dave Peter and HSD-US are bidding 
for the parent's 51-percent ownership. That would make the U.S, firm fully inde- 
pendent for the first time. 

Then it was on to Comdex, where NeXT's activities also had a third-party spin. 
You had to be looking for NeXT to find its booth at the Sands Convention 
Center, a major Comdex venue but decidedly secondary to the main hall, 
where the big boys slug it out with elaborate booths, production numbers, and 
gimcracks. The story there is that NeXT health-care developer Logibec had a line 
on space in the main hall, which it hoped NeXT would use to showcase third par- 
ties. At the time, NeXT planned only an off-floor suite, and it passed on the chance 
for the choice location. Later, when the third-party idea was resurrected and 



NeXT applied for exhibit space, NeXT found itself on the periphery at the Sands. 
Rather than compete with the PC riffraff, many of the UNIX and object envi- 
ronments didn't bother to show. Sun put in an appearance, but Hewlett-Packard 
didn't send its PCs or workstations. That's too bad, since Sullivan hoped to check 
out the hot HP Pentiums the company is assembling for Swiss Bank. Also miss- 
ing in action was Compaq. 

Data General showed its obligatory NEXTSTEP system, but there are dis- 
quieting sips out of Westboro. Only weeks after sending a technical team to 
NeXT to help finish PDO, the company may be growing weary 
of playing second fiddle to HP's servers. A reorg of DG's mar- 
keting department puts its commitment to NEXTSTEP up in 
the air. 




S! 
l 



peaking of Swiss Bank, Dwight Koop and entourage 

commandeered a limo for a whirlwind Comdex turn. 

Too bad they didn't manage to complete the contract 

for a Wingz-to-Mesa converter. Athena has other projects 

that can't waft, including Mesa for OS/2, which is expected 

to ship concurrently with Mesa 2.0 for NEXTSTEP. 

Meanwhile, the bank continues as a source of people 
as well as money for the NeXT community. The latest job- 
hopper is Jeff Kwam, one of SBC's top IT managers, who will 
take his talents to Systemhouse. First assignment: rescue 
the ailing NEXTSTEP installation at Phibro Energy. The major 
integrators realize they need deeper management talent, an 
issue that's also hitting home at Pencom, which just reorga- 
nized its services group. 

Finally, here's the scoop on the Aldus-Altsys double switch. The guts of 
FreeHand, the Mac/Windows illustration program from Aldus, will be replaced 
by Altsys's Virtuoso technology, while Virtuoso, the NEXTSTEP product, is to get 
the FreeHand moniker. Get that? Virtuoso 2.0, with multiple-page layouts, will 
ship first in early '94. The new packaging and minor Aldus marketing support 
will follow. 

The renewed appreciation for developers continues as the focus shifts to 
the East Coast Developer Conference on Sully's home turf. To slurp in 
style from a Sully mug, slip him some news before the event at 415/978- 
3374 or e-mail to sullivan@nextworld.com. RSA public key available 
upon request. 



SIMSON00001986 




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With the shipment of NEXTSTEP 
3.2, SoftPC 3.1, and Portable 
Distributed Objects for HP-UX, 
NeXT's rebuilding year is over. 
Now it's the users' turn to start 
their own construction projects. 



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22 mm JANUARY 1994 






PHOTOGRAPHS BY StUiUIT WaTSOX |; 




SIM SON OOO0 1987 



FEATURE 







T 




F o irirr a 8 r i o n 

f The Intel beta test is over - NEXTSTEP 3.2 has arrived 

by Lee Sherman 

Interim releases of software products are usually released without fanfare. But the 
arrival of NEXTSTEP Release 3.2 does much more than squash a few bugs {though 
NeXT claims to have wiped out more than 500 of them). With greatly improved com- 
patibility with Intel hardware, it brings NEXTSTEP into the computing mainstream for 
what is really the first time. 

NEXTSTEP 3.1, rushed into release last May as NeXTs first version for Intel 
processors, was in many ways a beta release. It supported only a limited set of PCs 
and add-on cards and lacked Windows compatibility. With 3.2, which shipped in 
November, NEXTSTEP users have a solid foundation for building their own custom 
environments. 

End users will see little change in their day-to-day work with NEXTSTEP. But if 
they are running the system on white hardware, drivers for popular sound and 
graphics cards will allow users to enjoy the same CD-quality sound and high-resolu- 
tion graphics that owners of black hardware have enjoyed for years. 

"The two major issues addressed are Microsoft Windows interoperability with 
SoftPC 3.1 and expanded hardware support," says Rick Jackson, director of product 
marketing at NeXT. In addition, NeXT released its Portable Distributed Object (PDO) 
system for Hewlett-Packard servers almost concurrently with NEXTSTEP 3.2 [though 
it comes in a separate shrinkwrapped box), providing advanced support for objects 
in a client-server system. (See the related articles on SoftPC and PDO.) 

Driver education 

On the hardware-support front, NeXT has added new driver categories as well as the 
first official release of DriverKK, NeXTs object-oriented framework for developing 
device drivers. 

NeXT expects a cottage industry to develop around DriverKit, as systems inte- 
grators move to meet the need for device drivers for the many hardware configura- 
tions in the Intel market. DriverKit provides an object-oriented framework for writing 
drivers, in which new drivers can be subclassed from existing ones, it offers support 
for whole new classes of drivers that weren't in previous versions of the operating 
system, including - at last - full support for 32-bit true-color graphics. Release 3.2 
also includes a long list of drivers in the categories of sound, SCSI, graphics, and 
networking (see the chart, "NEXTSTEP 3.2 drivers"). 

Brent Terry, manager of technology integration at Pencom, says fire DriverKit has cut at 
least one-third off of his development time, beaiise he no lomier lias to worry about APIs to 
particular UNIX operating systems and can instead concentrate on talking directly to the s^ie- 
cic device. He's seen the typlcaJ UNIX driv^- reduced from 6000 lines of code dowi to 1000. 

"One of the best features of having NEXTSTEP on Intel is that you don't have to wait for 
some card manufacturer to convince NeXT to write a driver. You can just do it yourself," Terry 
says. The shorter development cycle also lowers costs, inalang it possibte for smaller veralors, 
who might otherwise not be able to afford to develop a driver for NEXTSTEP, to do so. 

Developer support 

With NEXTSTEP 3.2, NeXT has realized it must support other languages beyond 
Objective-C. Support for the more standard C++ is provided in the form of the 
GNU libg++ libraries. Modifications to the HeaderViewer and ProjectBuilder 
applications are also designed to improve interoperability with other development 
environments. 

A brand-new application called FileMerge began its life as a utility for detail- 
ing source-code changes between two files. Because it includes support for both 



ASCII and RTF files, NeXT expects that it may also be used by ordinary users for 
contracts and other legal documents. 

Many of NeXT's OEM partners who have been sitting on the fence, including 
Compaq and NEC, are planning to deliver systems based on NEXTSTEP 3.2. NeXT 
has begun an improved testing process, under which vendors can verify their own 
systems simply by running a a new application called the NEXTSTEP Third Party 
Testing Program, "it gives third parties a chance to verify that their system is 
compatible with NEXTSTEP," says Jackson. "Ultimately, we will provide this infor- 
mation to the customer base." 

NEXTSTEP 3.2 arrives fully tested and ready for deployment, having 
already been seeded to over 100 developers and 20 direct corporate accounts. 
Installation has been simplified and system administrators can now perform a 
network installation using a special boot floppy and installation server. Many of 
these early users have found the new release to be much more stable than pre- 
vious versions. System administrators at large sites are finding that the combi- 
nation of support for a wider variety of Intel hardware, the promise of PDO in 
extending the benefits of NEXTSTEP to HP servers, and the ability to run legacy 
applications on the same machine as custom apps all greatly decrease the risk 
in choosing NEXTSTEP. 

Prime time 
Dwight Koop, executive director of information technology at Swiss Bank Corpora- 
tion in Chicago, had kept his users on NEXTSTEP 2.2 while waiting for a version 
that he felt was ready to be deployed throughout his organization. "I'm thrilled 
that 3.2 has made it to the point where it is a releasable major new UNIX operat- 
ing system," he said. 

Missing features and concerns about stability prevented Swiss Bank from 
embracing earlier versions of NEXTSTEP 3.0, but Koop now believes that NeXT's 
efforts have begun to pay off. NeXT still lacks the resources and the access to 
proprietary software to be able to test it as throughly against new versions of the 
operating system as the company does with shrinkwrapped applications, but 
NeXT appears to be working more closely with its major customers in order to 
ensure that it is meeting their product requirements. One sign of this is the inclu- 
sion of a new Product Feedback application in NEXTSTEP Release 3.2 that walks 
customers through a survey of their experience with NEXTSTEP and can be e- 
mailed, mailed, or faxed back to NeXT. 

Large sites like Swiss Bank, with their mission-critical requirements, move 
more slowly to adopt a new version of an operating system, because their custom 
applications are more likely to break under the new software and they can't afford 
the downtime. "You don't want to divert the attention of the people who are build- 
ing your proprietary application to a cycle of testing, recompiling, and re-releasing 
of software," Koop says. 

Another concern is Swiss Bank's reliance on Improv and WordPerfect, two 
applications whose future on NEXTSTEP for Intel remains in doubt. Koop says the 
inclusion of SoftPC 3.1 provides at least a partial solution to this problem. 

Besides improved stability, Release 3.2 has a more finished feel, because of 
the more extensive on-line help seen throughout the system, particularly in the 
PrintManager application. 

With the release of NEXTSTEP 3.2 , NeXT has delivered an object-oriented 
framework for client-server computing that runs on industry-standard hardware 
and squarely addresses issues of interoperability on many different levels. When 
NEXTSTEP for HP's PA-RISC arrives in mid-1994, NeXT will have fulfilled all of its 
major promises made during its transitional year. 

Now NEXTSTEP customers can take over, building their own systems on top of 
a solid foundation of software technology. % 

Lee Sherman is a NeXTWORLD contributing editor. 



it Watson 



SIMSON00001988 



F E ft T 



NEXTSTEP 3.2 drivers 



With the release of NEXTSTEP 3.2, a raft of new drivers is available 
for users with white hardware. The chart below lists the NEXTSTEP 
3.2 drivers in four categories: graphics, local-area networks, SCSI, and 
sound. For additional information on these drivers, request the most 
recent NEXTSTEP Hardware Compatibility Guide from NeXT- 
answers, NeXT's automated information-retrieval system. 

Several third-party developers have also been working on drivers 
that aren't included in NEXTSTEP 3.2, but at press time, only Pen- 
corn, an Austin, Texas-based consulting and systems-integration firm, 
had announced its offerings. According to Brent Terry, Pencom's 
manager of technology integration, the company has completed three 



drivers and is finishing up a fourth. Two of those drivers were written 
to support Unisys machines and are available from Pencom now, says 
Terry. Pencom developed the other two on a contract basis for 
miro Computer and Tseng Labs to support their graphics cards. 

NeXTanswers: Send e-mail to nextanswers@next.com with the 
two-word subject, INDEX HELP, or call 415/780-3990 to receive doc- 
uments by fax. For further help, contact NeXT Technical Support at 
800/848-6398. Pencom: 9050 Capital of Texas N., Austin, TX 78759. 
512/343-6666, 800/736-2664, 512/343-9650 fax; info@pencom.com. $ 

fry Paul Curthoys 



Card 



Expansion bus 



Vendor 




Graphics 

AH Graphics UltraPro for ATI 6880 

Chips & Technologies Wingine 
Compaq QVision 1024/E, 1280/1 



SCSI 

Adapt 



B, C, and CF 



Standard PC speaker 



VESA am 

N/A 1 
EISA : 



Number Nine GXE 


VESA 


STB Horizon for Cirrus Logic GD542X 


ISA 


$3 : S6C8QS:and 86C928 . 


N/A 5 


Tseng Labs ET-4000AX 


ISA 


Standard VGA 


ISA 


Local Area Networks 




3COM EtherLink III (3C509) 


ISA 


3COM EtherKink III (3C579) 




Intel EtherExpress 16, 16TP, and 16G 


ISA 


Intel TokenExpress ISA/16s 


ISA 


SMC ErherCard PLUS Elite 16 (8013) 


ISA 



ISA 



Adaptec i74.x Band C 


LISA 


Bus Logic BT-542 


ISA 


Bus Logic B'I-747 


EISA 


DPT 201 1/90, 2011/95 


ISA 


DPT 2012/90, 2012/95 


- EISA 


DPT 2021 


ISA 


DPT 2022, 2122 


EISA 


Sound 




Compaq Business Audio 


CPU Board 


Intel GX/Professional CPU-Board 


CPl 


Audio Support 




Media Vision ProAudio Spectrum 16 


ISA 


Vision Pro Studio 16 


ISA 


Microsoft Sound System 


ISA 



CPU Board 



ATI Technology, 33 Commerce Valley Dr. £.■ Thornhill, Ontario, Canada L3T7N6. 

905/882-2600, 905/8824620 fax. 
Chips & Technologies, 3050 Zanker Rd., San. Jose, CA 95 1 34. 408/434-0600. 
Compaq Computer Corporation, P.O. Box 692000, Houston, TX 77269. 

713/370-0670,800/345-1518. 
Intel Corporation, 5200 UE. Elam Young Piewy^Hillsbord, OR 97124. 

5.03/629-7354Y80U/538--3373. 
Number Nine ..Coiripurer.Corporatipri, 1.8 Hartwell Ave., Lexington, MA 02173. 

617/674-0009, 800/438-6563, 
Simply The Best Systems, 1651 N. Glenvilie #210, Richardson, TX 75081. . 

214/234-8750, 800/2344334. 214/234-1306 fax. 
S3. Technologies Company, 8895 McGaw Rd., Columbia, MD 21045% 410/290-5773. 
Tseng Labs, 6 Terry Dr.,Newtown, PA 18940. 215/968-0.5.02, 215/8.60-7713 fax. 
Various 



3COM Corporation, 5400 Bayfront Plaza, Santa Clara, CA 95052. 408/764-5 

800/638-3266, 408/764-6740 fax. 
Intel Corporation, (see above for contact information) 

Standard Microsystems Corporation, 80 Arkay Dr., Hauppauge, NY 1.1788, 
516/435-6225, 800/762-4968, 516/273-2136 fax. 



[pitas Blvd., M I 
408/262-2533 fax. 

Bus Logic, 4151 Burton Dr., Santa (Jan 



I8/94S-8600, 800/959-7274, 



54. 408/492-9090. 408/492-1542 fax. 



Distributed Processing Technology, 140 Candaa Dr., Maitland, IT. 32751. 407/830-5522, 
800/322-4378,407 5366 fax 



Compaq Computer Corporation (see above for contact information) 
Intel Corporation (see above for contact information) 

Media Vision, 47300 Bayside Pkwy., Fremont, CA 94538. 510/770-8600, 800/845-5870, 

510/770-9592 fax. 
Microsoft Corporation, 1 Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052. 

800/426-9400,206/882-8080, 
Various 



I 



1 NEXTSTEP 3.2 supports the Chips k Technolog.es Wingine board in Epson's NX, Progression, and Progression NX computers. Add-on cards with the Wmg.ne board are not currently supported. Epson America 20770 Madrona 
Ave., Torrance, CA 90509. 310/782-4000, 800/374-7300. 

! StiJJ! ' S SUPP ° rte< ! m U i0 ' W mDm DGX ™ m P ut " s - Ud« JAW5 cards are not currently supported. Dell Computer Corporation, 1 1209 Metric Blvd., Austin, TX 7S758. 512/728-3500, 800/247-6821 800/7^-8320 fax 
™« 4 P rnv^ dr,, T,'°Inv e r tCd " 86a A ° 5 : baSed 3nd 8<SC52 ^ *** i- DEC MTE d2 computers; Dell M- and L-ser,es computers; HP Vectra N- S eri«, Nl-senes, and XAd-ser.es computers; and IBM Yah* 
Po.nt ,*6DX S, 466DX,m an 4 ,,6DX2/r computers. Add-on cards w.th mtegrated S3 graph.es are not currently supported, but NeXT plans to support some of these cards in future releases. Digital Equipment Corporation, Dig.- 
t™ 1 Z SEJS ;r?" 8W43W3JS, 800/524-5694 fax; Dell Computer Corporation (see above for contact information,; Hewlett-Packard, 3000 Hanover St., Palo Alto, CA 94304. *£s57-LSGl 

HUU/ O2-U90U, 41.5/857-5518 fax; IBM Corporation, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709. 919/543-5221, 8O0/426-296S. 
Source: NeXT 



24 Wma JANUARY 1994 




SIMSON00001989 



FEATURE 



Arch 




ture 



SOFTPC 3.1 INTEGRATES MICROSOFT WINDOWS INTO NEXTSTEP 

by Dan Lavin 

Most NEXTSTEP users today are pragmatic. The goal is to get the job done, and 
the elegance of the solution may be secondary. If the right software tool already 
exists, it shouldn't have to be reinvented under NEXTSTEP. Weil, it doesn't any- 
more, now that NeXT has teamed up with Insignia Solutions to offer the first ver- 
sion of SoftPC for NEXTSTEP that can really run Microsoft Windows. 

Microsoft Windows: Love it or hate it, you can't ignore it. Especially now that 
you get SoftPC 3.1 for next to nothing as a piece of locked software on your 
NEXTSTEP 3.2 distribution disk. (The confusing version numbers are coincidental,} 
At $249, less than half the cost of the old SoftPC for black hardware, it opens the 
door to a vast library of productivity software. 

Despite its name, SoftPC 3.1 is a radically different product than its pre- 
decessors. For starters, it runs Windows applications well and accesses Novell 
networks seamlessly. The old version product was an emulation product for 
running DOS on non-native computers. Now H runs DOS and Windows on their 
Intel home turf. 

"SoftPC used to be a compatibility solution. Now it is a productivity solution," 
says SoftPC Product Manager Mark Munford. 

The old performance problem is gone. Using software developed by NeXT, 
Insignia boosted graphics performance to more than 80 percent of pure Windows 
performance on Intel. The company expects to find a receptive market. "We used 
to have 15-percent penetration of the NeXT base," Munford says. "With the new 
product, we hope to be used on 25 percent or more of all NEXTSTEP systems, We 
want to be a ubiquitous utility for NEXTSTEP." 

But why, you may ask, should you need any software to run PC software on a 
PC? Because SoftPC integrates DOS and Windows under NEXTSTEP. If you can 
endure a cold boot every time you want to switch environments, you don't need 
SoftPC. But if you want to switch effortlessly (well, nearly so) and cut and paste 
data between apps on the two platforms, SoftPC will let you do It. 

DOS applications that are no longer available in current versions for 
NEXTSTEP - to say nothing of the other DOS and Windows standards that were 
never available - are instantly up and running inside your NEXTSTEP workspace. 
It's the next best thing to native versions. 

Of course, nothing is ever perfect, and SoftPC does have a few blemishes. Not 
every DOS and Windows program will run, and, depending on your mode of opera- 
tion, cutting and pasting may not be as automatic as you'd like. We'll consider the 
limitations in a future review. 



Modes and more modes 

Every copy of NEXTSTEP 3,2 comes with a full demo copy of SoftPC 3.1 on the disk. The 
demo version works for 30 days, after which users can call and get a license number and 
full documentation for $249. There is no upgrade pricing for former users of the black- 
hardware version. (In fact, there wffl be no new version of SoftPC for Mack hardware, ft will 
be supported in its current state and sold at its old price of $549 indefinitely.! 

The SoftPC license includes not only insignia's code but MS-DOS 5,0 and 
Windows 3.1 as well. Insignia's licensing agreement with Microsoft allows the 
company to literally modify Windows source code to optimize it for other environ- 
ments, which it has done for Microsoft itself for Windows NT, and for HP-UX and 
Solaris with its SoftWindows product, due out in a few months. 

There are two ways to run SoftPC: either within a NEXTSTEP window or by 
taking over the full screen. Full-screen mode is significantly faster because it 
bypasses Display PostScript and the demands of NEXTSTEP completely. But the in- 
a-window mode is more convenient for interoperability and compatibility. 

Toggling between modes is easy to do, but there are certain limitations with each. In 
full-screen mode, the window is resizable on the fly, but the size of your in-a-window mode 
Windows screen is fixed for the duration of your Windows session. Also, SoftPC lets you 
hot-key between full-screen and in-a-window mode, but once you switch to fufl-screen 
mode, you can only go to an inactive-window mode that permits only cutting and pasting. 

Cutting and pasting text between NEXTSTEP and Windows apps is easy in the 
in-a-window mode. Graphics are copied using Grab or other screen-capture utili- 
ties. There's no cut and paste to NEXTSTEP when in full-screen mode. Windows 
application links using DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange) and OLE (Object Linking and 
Embedding) work fine but are not tied into NEXTSTEP. 

Performance 

In fun-screen mode, applications write to the PC's native VGA graphics hardware, which 
yields near-native performance. n?s more complicated in the in-a-window mode, in which 
the software has to deal with NEXtsitrs Display PostScript screen graphics, Using some 
technology called Interceptor that NeXT developed for its NEXTIME video-display software, 
SoftPC is able to blast data right to the screen. Result: Windows performance about 80 
percent as fast as m a native envirenmerft 

It is easy to see the effect of Interceptor by overlapping a screen element such as a 
menu onto a running SoftPC Windows screen. Display PostScript kicks m and performance 
drops dramatically, (ft rebounds when SoftPC is uncovered again.) This doesn't happen 
when the NEXTSTEP cursor moves over the Windows window; it simply turns into a Win- 
dows cursor. 

fbe Intercepttrtedhinolc^ is the bnerfdhroi^ over previous verskms of SoftPC, in which 
the Display PostScript problem left the program unacceptaMy slow fwitm^ Windows. 

Another key improvement over the previous version is the inclusion of Insignia's 
SoftNode software, which permits SoftPC to access NetWare networked drives on NetWare 
file servers through the use of Novell NetWare IPX and Novell LAN Workplace DOS TCP/IP. 



SoftPC 3.1 at a glance 



Processor 

• Real mode as provided by the '486 

• DPMI-compliant Protected mode 

• 32-bit Windows DPMI-compliant programs 

• Math coprocessor support 

Memory 

• Expanded memory up to 32MB 

• Extended memory up to 16MB 



Display 

• In-a-window 

Windows 3.1 

VGA text mode only 

CGA text and CGi\ graphics 

• Full-screen 

Windows 3.1 

VGA (only on tested hardware) 

• NEXTSTEP 

2-bit grayscale 
16-bit color 



Printing 

• Full support through UNIX lpr 

• Supports PostScript and HP LaserJet emulation 

• LPT1, LPT2 supported 

Serial ports 
. COMl, COM2 

• Output to serial ports 






fi\niAoviQQA uevTiwnDi n ~> e 



SIMSON00001990 



FEATURE 



SoftPC provides vast options for configuring file systems and physical drives, 
it automatically sets up a large UNIX file that acts like a hard drive, in addition, 
SoftPC can access the DOS partition on a hard disk, the one you would use if cold 
booting into DOS rather than NEXTSTEP. You can also designate any UNIX direc- 
tory tree as an FSA (File System Access! drive. Using this option, ail the files ere 
ated by DOS are readable as individual entities by NEXTSTEP, and vice versa, 
which is very useful for sharing files between operating environments. 




E G R I 





Using the same Interceptor technology developed for NeXT's NEXTIME video architec- 
ture, SoftPC runs at 80 percent of native speed in the in-a-window mode. 

Communications ports have been improved to support 9600 baud on a regu- 
lar basis. Printer support includes a variety of PostScript and non-PostScript 
printers to meet the needs of a range of DOS or Windows applications. You config- 
ure how much memory you want your virtual PC to possess. SoftPC supports 
extended and expanded memory up to 32MB. 

Other functions, including the method for setting preferences, remain basi- 
cally unchanged, though a full on-line help facility has been added. 

Software compatibility 
SoftPC 3.1 runs most but not alt Windows and DOS applications. These caveats get a 
SirJe complicated for non-Intel experts, but SoftPC supports Real- and Protected-mode 
DOS applications and Standard-mode Windows applications that comply with the DOS 
Protected-mode interface. St does not run applications that require Windows Enhanced 
mode. These exceptions involve some important programs, including Frameffeker and 
WordPerfect 6.0. {Insignia says that some Enhanced-mode applications, such as 
improv, will run even though they say they require Enhanced mode}. Graphical DOS 
programs, as opposed to character-based ones, will only run in full-screen mode. 

Full-screen mode is supported on most hardware configurations listed in the 
NEXTSTEP Hardware Compatibility Guide, though some graphics subsystems, 
including Compaq's QVlsion, are problematic at this time. 

While all these exceptions sound complicated, most standard DOS and Windows 
programs run weH. Munford says that additional support and the schedule of future 
upgrades to SoftPC will be determined by the market acceptance of the product. 

That may depend on the ratio of NEXTSTEP purists to pragmatists. NeXT and 
Insignia are betting that many users are willing to sacrifice a small measure of 
elegance for a big helping of functionality. $ 



The Portable Distributed Object system brings big iron 
to the NEXTSTEP edifice 

by Sim son L. Garfinkel 



The NEXTSTEP platform is no longer a single-family dwelling. Following through on 
one of the major promises of last year's NeXTWQRLD Expo, NeXT shipped its 
Portable Distributed Object system (PDO) for Hewlett-Packard's PA-RISC UNIX 
servers in November. Data General will deliver another version of PDO in January for 
its AViiON workstations and servers, and more ports are expected later this year. 

As Steve lobs promised last May, PDO lets developers use NeXT's Distributed 
Object system to communicate directly with object servers running on other UNIX plat- 
forms as if (he objects were running on the NEXTSTEP desktop. The network fades 
away, hidden by a seamless layer implemented on top of NeXT's Objective-C language, 

PDO lets a program running on a relatively slow NEXTSTEP-based desktop com- 
puter tap into the powerhouse of HP's top-of-the-line multiprocessing mainframes. 
With an appropriate server, PDO lets programs running on remote computers per- 
form complex calculations in a flash, access remote devices, or directly interoperate 
with other applications that don't run on NEXTSTEP itself, 

"it enables us to take advantage of the power of other platforms," says Matt 
Peron, systems officer at First National Bank of Chicago, a PDO beta site. "Our pro- 
cessing demands are increasing, probably faster than the hardware can keep up. If 
we have the choice, we can go to larger and larger systems, that's great." 



What's there 
Most people think of NEXTSTEP as a slick graphical user interface, layered on top 
of the Mach operating system and the proprietary Netlnfo network-management 
facility. To get PDO, NeXT took out those three parts, creating a system that could 
let NEXTSTEP object servers run on top of other operating systems. 

PDO is both a development environment and a run-time system. The basic de- 
veloper building blocks include four key libraries: NeXT's Core Classes (Object, List, 
HashTable, Storage, and NXStringTable); the NEXTSTEP Distributed Objects Classes 
library (NXConnection and NXProxy); NeXT's streams library, a unified system for 
dealing with data stored in files or in-memory buffers; NeXFs Zone malioc library, 
which gives programmers control over memory within an application, allowing them 
to improve memory performance; and the NEXTSTEP defaults system. 

PDO programs are compiled with a version of the NeXT Objective-C compiler 
(GCC v. 2.4) and debugged with the GDB debugger. Developers can compile PDO 
programs from the command line of the non-NEXTSTEP system or remotely from a 
system running NEXTSTEP with NeXT's ProjectBuilder and the Portable BuildServer 
(a part of PDO that runs on the remote system]. For the first time, NeXT is also 
including the GNU sources directly on the release disk, "so you don't have to ask 
for another disk if you need the source," says Kate Smith, PDO project manager. 

To make use of a PDO object, the client program, which might be running on 
a NEXTSTEP workstation or on the PDO server itself, issues a TCP/IP request to 
NeXT's Portable nmserver (another PDO program! with the name of the server and 
the name of the object with which it wishes to communicate. If the server program 
isn't running, the Portable nmserver starts it. The nmserver then gives the original 
requesting program a pointer to the PDO server and gets out of the way, allowing 
them to communicate directly with each other. 


















■ 



l 






Dan L a v i n is senior reviews editor at NeXTWORLD. 



Not that portable 
While PDO itself is portable, applications written to take advantage of it might not 
be, says Van Simmons, president of VNP Software, a Cambridge, Massachusetts- 



U 



JANUARY 1994 




SIM SON OOO0 1991 



FEATURE 



on 

I itS ; 

for 

.lat- 

ge. i 
om» I 
s. 

m 

rate 

t 

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If 



ID 

Id 

e- 

ist, 

ses 



em 



based NEXTSTEP developer who was also a PDO beta tester. The problem, says Sim- 
mons, is that NEXTSTEP, DG-UX, and HP-UX are all different flavors of UNIX, with dif- 
ferent system calls, different versions of the make program compiler, different 
arrangement of include files, and so forth. Although the NEXTSTEP libraries and lan- 
guages are the same across the platforms, moving an object server from NEXTSTEP 
to another operating system is not a simple recompile. 

Thus, PDO won't let NEXTSTEP developers "achieve worid peace," says Avie 
Tevanian, NeXTs head of software development. On the other hand, he adds, PDO 
still makes it relatively simple to take compute-intensive objects out of NEXTSTEP 
programs and nm them on faster servers. 

"Remember, the language is the same as on NEXTSTEP. The foundation classes 
are the same. It really works," says Tevanian. 

Indeed, customers who have tried ft say that NeXTs claims are accurate. "Our 
nastiest port was from the NeXT black box to HP-UX - that's probably as nasty as it 
gets - and that port took about a day," says First National Bank's Peron. 

Nevertheless, one incompatibility that hangs over PDO is the lack of support for 
multithreaded servers. Under NEXTSTEP, a server can be set up so that each client 
program requesting a distributed object gets its own execution thread. This is 
important for servers vending large, complicated objects that require a considerable 
amount of CPU power; it lets the server respond to more than one request at a time. 
But under HP-UX, PDO does not support multithreaded servers - an issue that has 
been a point of concern for some customers. 

"Eventually, I think it probably will be [a problem]," says Peron. In the short 
term, he hopes that the five-fold speed improvement his objects get from moving 
from the black box to an HP 735 will more than make up for the lack of concurrence. 

PDO also gives companies an easy way to migrate to the network-based 
object-oriented environment that has become so desired in recent years, says 
NeXTs Smith. "Let's say you are an organization that deals with foreign currencies 
and you have a program that a lot of employees use for billing or currency 
exchange of some kind. Currently, an employee might look up the exchange rate 
on a sheet of paper that has been faxed to them that day and calculate it with an 
adding machine. With PDO, one can have a currency-exchange object that runs on 
a central server. The exchange rates get set as often as needed in that one object 
by an administrator. The application running on the employee's desk messages 
that object to find out the current rate and then does its thing. The messaging is 
transparent; it looks like the object is part of the application on the desk, so infor- 
mation is centralized." 

As the business grows and its needs become more complex, NeXT could put 
additional objects on the server: objects to calculate interest rates and rates of 
return, or sophisticated objects that perform complex analytics written by in- 
house programmers, Smith says. 



a 






NEXTSTEP 
Environment 



PDO 
Environment 




A client program running under NEXTSTEP can use NeXTs Distributed Object system 
to communicate with servers running on the same Mach system (or on other networked 
systems). Using PDO, that same client can communicate through NeXTs nmsewer pro- 
gram with a PDO system running on an HP-UX system. 



PDO blends well into a fast-moving development cycle in which small changes 
need to be propagated instantly to hundreds of users at computers around the 
globe. Instead of deploying a new version of an application program, the develop- 
ers can simply put a new object on the central server, and applications in the field 
would automatically get the new version of the object the next time they ran. 

Portable plans 

Because PDO does not use the graphical environment, it is portable to most other 
operating systems that provide basic POSIX functionality (that is, virtual memory, 
TCP/IP-based networking, and multiple processes). 

NeXT plans to ship PDO for Sun's Solaris OS next March or April, says Smith. 
"Today it's HP, in January ft will be Data General, and later, Sun and others. It will 
give NEXTSTEP programmers more flexibility in deployment of applications to 
servers that have useful features that client machines don't have, like high perfor- 
mance, central location of data, and fail-safe mechanisms." 

Indeed, with little effort, PDO could be ported just as easily to Microsoft's 
Windows NT, Novell's NetWare, or DEC's Open VMS. Then, no matter what the envi- 
ronment, users could build complex structures on a foundation of NEXTSTEP. % 



S I M S N L.Garfinkelk senior contributing editor to NeXTWORLD. 



sr 



I 
n 



I 



Product Description* 

PDO Release 1.0 for HP-UX 9.0 
Department Servers 



PDO Release 1.0 for HP-UX 9.0 
Branch Servers 



PDO Release 1.0 for HP-UX 9.0 
Corporate Servers 



Portable pricing 



Product Platform 

HP Apollo 9000 Series 700 

Workstation Models 715 or 725; 

HP 9000 Series 800 Business Server F- or G-Class. 

HP Apollo 9000 Series 700 

Workstation Models 725 or 755; 

HP 9000 Series 800 Business Server H- or I-Class. 

HP 9000 Corporate Business 

Server 890 Models 890/1, 890/2, 890/3, and 890/4. 



Product 



N5594 



N5595 



List Price 



$2500 



N5596 



$5000 



$10,000 



'All products include CD-ROM and English documentation. 



SIMSON00001992 



EVELOPER CAMP 



Qave you heard about NeXT's "strategic developers"? Officially, 
they don't exist. Officially, only Registered Developers exist. But 
some developers do get preferential treatment: invitations to 
functions like last September's DBKit Advisory Board meeting 
or November's Executive Briefing for Developers; attention from one of 
the few remaining NeXT developer advocates; early access to software re- 
leases; and preferred access to NeXT's technical-support line. Best of all, most 
strategic developers don't pay a cent to Redwood City for these privileges. 

There's just one catch: You can't apply to be a strategic developer. You 
have to be chosen. And the more goodies that NeXT bestows upon your 
firm, the stronger me confidentiality agreements. : mmmmmmm mmmwvw' 

It used to be that the best way of getting 
quality technical information from NeXT was 
to hang around the parking lot at 900 Chesa- 
peake Drive and offer to buy an engineer a 
beer. That's hardly a rational system either, 
but at least every developer had the same 
opportunity. Today, it takes more than beer. 

Fact: When NeXT develops new tech- 
nology, developers who get information early 
on have an advantage over others. This hand- 
icap is especially significant when the technol- 
ogy supersedes a current product, as is the 
case with the future version of DBKit. Developers who are building programs 
that depend on the intricate workings of DBKit need to know about the up- 
coming changes so they can avoid wasting time and money. 

Fact: NeXT's new Registered Developer Program requires strict confi- 
dentiality on the part of the participants. Mandating a wall of silence between 
developers in the community strengthens the appearance that NeXT is cutting 
a different deal with each developer, playing favorites, and picking winners. 

Fact: NeXT continues to play developers against each other. In recent 



How NeXT 
Plays Favorites 



months, for example, NeXT offered to help secure funding for a prominent 
West Coast developer to write a spreadsheet that would compete with Athena 
Design's Mesa. Wouldn't NEXTSTEP users be better off with a working 
word processor rather than a third (or possibly fourth) spreadsheet? 

Of course, playing favorites is not unique to NeXT. Certainly Apple and 
Microsoft have done it for years, but those companies are not struggling 
for their survival, Unfortunately, only the largest, most successful develop- 
ers get special treatment. The problem, of course, is that most of today's 
strategic developers were once little more than two-bit players themselves. 
Can NeXT cultivate the Lighthouse Designs of the future through preferen- 

I i i tial treatment? 

I'm not saying that NeXT should be giv- 
ing away free software and technical suppon 
to anybody who wants to write another 3-D 
drawing package. Software and support cost 
NeXT money, and not all programs are in 
line with the mission-critical custom-applica- 
tions strategy upon which NeXT has gambled 
its survival. Any operating-system company 
needs some leeway to support the applica- 
tions that it thinks will do the most good foi 
the platform. 

That said, it is also true that NEXTSTEP 
is still badly in need of applications, and practically nobody developing a 
shrinkwrapped program can afford to shell out the hefty sums NeXT charges 
in-house developers. Even with a 40-percent developer discount, NEXTSTEP 
user and developer editions are still far too expensive. Developers should get 
software at cost - and at the same cost for all. % 

S I M s o N L . G A R F I N K E L is the senior contributing editor to 
NeXTWORLD. 



G A V R' 



We keep the score on NEXTSTEP hardware 5 




ith hardware 
options multi- 
plying every month, 
the task of choosing 
a PC, workstation, 
or server to run 
NEXTSTEP can over- 
whelm your technical 
I staff. NeXTWORLD's 
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H cut through the 

marketing claims 
H with real performance 
I testing. From the 
I desktop to the data 
center, NeXTWORLD 
tracks the hits, runs, 
and errors. Call 
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SIM SON OOO0 1995 



N i X I INK 



PR ow that NcXT has completed its transition to a software-only 
L ^ model, the question arises whether or not - and how - NeXT 
^ should compete in the applications market. Clearly, the trend is 
HHi toward NeXT unbundling the application layer and selling it 
separately. And NEXTSTEP Developer is actually a collection of applications. 
NeXT has dithered for a while on selling other pieces, such as DBKit and 
Mail, as separate line items. I have not come to any conclusions yet, but these 
decisions should not be taken lightly. 

The company, however, needs to be careful about competing with its 
own third-party developers, especially in the area of collaborative applica- 
tions or groupware. On one hand, it is tempt- 
ing to argue that NeXT should just concen- 
trate on learning to do one thing well - selling 
development and user environments. It should 
only write applications that are bundled with 
NEXTSTEP, intrinsic to the NEXTSTEP envi- 
ronment, and unlikely to support third par- 
ties competing for the segment in the open 
marketplace. 

Why? NeXT is a 200-person company 
and can only focus on doing a few things well. 
A small team in an external company can be 
more effective at accomplishing a task than 
NeXT engineers who are constantly distracted by getting the next release out 
the door And the NeXT sales force has its hands full selling NEXTSTEP. 

Let's look at one example: Mail. Originally an afterthought to NEXT- 
STEP 1.0, NeXT's innovative multimedia mail app turned out to be a cen- 
tral part of NEXTSTEP'S story. Initially ahead of its time, it is now an aging 
dowager. The most bogus feature of NEXTSTEP 3.0 was Mail, sporting 
new icons but little else - not even bug fixes to its nasty addressing functions. 

Other developers have wanted to do mail products, but the specter of 




Mail II has quashed that impetus for years. NeXT has not gotten around 
to this product because the highly talented Bryan Yamamoto was working 
on InterfaceBuilder and related applications. The focus on this app could 
not be maintained against other pressures. 

On the other hand, NeXT can certainly use the revenue from extra sales. 
Clearly, there is only so much money NeXT can make at $500 a pop in net 
receipts for a copy of NEXTSTEP. Even a $200 mail program would increase 
revenues by 40 percent. NeXT can rightly say to those developers who com- 
plain of unfair competition that no stone tablets have decreed the structure 
of computer companies and their relations to third parties. Clearly, the 

Mac market has not been crippled by the 
presence of Claris. 

Besides, NeXT is obviously not going to 
be developing spreadsheets any time soon. It 
will focus on core technologies that support the 
NEXTSTEP message-of-the-moment. In addi- 
tion, certain apps, such as InterfaceBuilder, 
are key to NeXT's message: It has too many 
person-years already invested in it and is too 
deeply tied to the environment. And I don't 
think a lot of folks are tussling for the turf 
occupied by configuration.app. 

Today, several developers are finally 
ignoring NeXT and building their own Mail-type programs. If you were a 
customer, would you rather have several choices of mail programs or only 
the basic model direct from the manufacturer? Or is this more like getting 
a factor)' radio that you know is going to fit into the dashboard just right? 
What I want is great products that support the NeXT market. Keep- 
ing an eye on what happens with Mail will show us the right direction. $ 

Dan L A V I N comments on business issues in NeXT Ink. 



mix is an all-in-one telephone, data modem, fax machine and 
voice mail system using the built-in Digital Sound Processor* for 
faster processing, mix allows remote message controlling and 
remote programming, mix can store incoming calls with time 
and date stamps and forward messages digitally, mix s easy- 
to-use, optional special objects shown below allow you to 
customize your voice mail system to create interactive i 

dialogs with the caller without paying extra charge to m 

your phone company for such services. With mix, you ^ 

can use the microphone and speaker* of your NEXTSTEP , 

computer to keep your hands free during phone calls. . 




mix also automatically switches incoming calls to 
telephone, fax or data modem all over one phone 
line, mix sends and receives faxes with PostScript™ 
quality at 9600 bps. Even when forwarding received 
faxes to another fax machine, there is no loss in 
resolution, mix transfers data at up to 2400 bps and 
supports the CCITT v.21, v.22, v.22bis and Bell 103/2T2A 
standards, mix also offers an integrated multimedia 
notebook for fast access to important data. Now shipping 
mix version 2.0 for NEXTSTEP for Intel and NeXT platforms. 
Discover mix now! 



on* DSP ■urdana NEXTSTEP 
nc speed w: ! i be prow: 



Voice Mail, E-Mail, 

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Communication 

in One? 



mix 



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1.800.452.7608 




Alembic Systems International 

14 Inverness Drive East, Suite G- 
Englewood, Colorado 80112 
303.799.6223 "303.799. 1435 fa 
info@alembic.c<i|)l i .i 



Circle 48 on reader service card 




SIMSON00001996 



REVIEWS 









Contact Sports 

Two contact-management apps 
take it to the workspace 



by S E T H Ross 

FYVV hile contact-manage- 

I ■ ment software has 
I'l'I become popular on 

■ m m ot ^ er P^ at ^ orrns as a 
£&2sfei£i I speedy electronic 

Rolodex, it's always remained a util- 
ity player. Under NEXTSTEP, though, 
the ability to work and communi- 
cate with other programs makes con- 
tact-management software a true 
power hitter. 

After an initial shakeout, two 
programs have emerged with the 
right basic feature set to compete in 
this category: SBook from Sarrus 
Software and (Stay)InTouch from 
SmartSoft. We tested them head-to- 
head, dumping 7500 names into both 
SBook 3.1 and (Stay)InTouch 1.25 
beta to see which could better han- 
dle the fire storm of phone numbers, 
fax numbers, mailing addresses, and 
e-mail addresses with which the typ- 
ical knowledge worker has to con- 
tend. For most problems, SBook, the 
established product, provides better 
solutions, though upstart (Stay)In- 
Touch is a serviceable substitute. 

Two notes: .Although SBook was 
created by former NeXTWORLD 
Senior Technology Editor Simson 
Garfinkel, it was sold last year to 
Sarrus. Garfinkel had no input on 
this review and will read it for the 
first time when this issue is published. 
And, as this issue went to press, 
SmartSoft changed the name of its 
product from InTouch to (Stay)In- 
Touch to avoid possible confusion 
with a Macintosh product of the 
same name. 

Contact clones? 

SBook and (Stay)InTouch let you in- 
put or import lists of names, addresses, 
phone numbers, fax numbers, and 
e-mail addresses. They are both free- 
form entry managers. So, in addition 
to normal data, you can input other 
data like job titles, committee assign- 
ments, and so forth. Both support 
multiple open address books, allow- 
ing you, for example, to keep sepa- 



rate personal and business books. 

Both apps are "smart," employ- 
ing pattern-recognition techniques 
to interpret your text as you input 
entries. Both insert mini-icons into 
your entries: an envelope for addresses, 
a telephone for phone numbers, a 
document or telephone icon for fax 
numbers, and an @ (at sign) for e- 
mail addresses. 

Click the envelope icon, and a 
bar-coded envelope pops up, ready 
to print. Click the icon for a fax 
number, and a simple fax template 
appears, ready for a fax modem. Both 
can use a modem to dial the phone 
for you, a handy feature for those 
who make dozens of calls a day. 

Once entries are in the pro- 
grams, you can search for individual 
entries in both programs by just 



(Stay)InTouch 1.25 «*w 



% I % 

(Stay)lnTouck is a competent contact 
manager that sends e-mail and faxes, 
dials the phone, organizes contacts into 
groups, and prints envelopes and labels. 
Some important features are missing, 
including the ability to sort entries 
alphabetically by last name. 

$125 

SmartSoft, 2220 E. Linnwood Avenue, 
Milwaukee, Wl 5321 1 , 414/964-8864, 
800/424-8864, 414/964-4672 fax; 
stnartsoft@parsecjnixcom.com. 



of any NEXTSTEP app. (Stay)In- 
Touch can also insert either addresses 
or e-mail addresses. 

Devil in the details 

The first thing many users will want 
to do is import an existing list of 
contacts. SBook imports QuickDeX, 
SpeedDeX, tab-delimited text, and 
merged text from PC applications. 
(Stay)InTouch imports only SBook- 
formatted ASCII text. While SBook 
sucked in a 6000-name mailing list, 
(Stay)InTouch choked. An annoying 



one of dozens of formats. You ca 
force either to recognize an address 
or phone number as such. 

We made a few dozen phone 6 



calls using each of the apps' dialing | 
features. Both allow you to set up 
various dialing rules. For example 
both can automatically append a 
"1" to long-distance calls, or drop 
the area code for a local call. (Stayj- 
InTouch, however, requires you to 
reset the serial port when you're 
done - a minor irritation. 

Both apps competently print 




(Stay)lnTouch lets you quickly compose faxes, address envelopes, and make phone calls. It also 
allows you to group contacts. Note, for example, the "customers" category in top middle window, 



i 



typing in a few letters. Clever search- 
ing yields groups of contacts, such 
as all people who work at NEC or 
everyone with birthdays in Novem- 
ber. 

Both apps are extremely fast 
performers, an important factor 
when real-time communications are 
involved. Both apps produce match- 
ing entries as quickly as you can 
type. Both sport simple and unclut- 
tered user interfaces, though SBook 
wins points for its streamlined 
expert mode. Using either app, you 
can dial a phone number or print 
an envelope from the Services menu 



twist: (Stay)InTouch automatically 
creates a new file out of imported 
entries, even if you want to add them 
to an existing file. 

The pattern-recognition tech- 
niques of the two apps are remark- 
ably similar. The general rule: If 
SBook can recognize an address or 
phone number, (Stay)InTouch can 
too, and vice versa. Both apps have 
some trouble with international phone 
numbers, which can appear in any 



SBook 3.1 



% $ % % si 

This fast and reliable contact manager 
can find the person you want to contact, . 
send e-mail and faxes, dial the phone, 
keep a log of your phone notes, and print 
envelopes, labels, and address books. 
Recommended without reservation. 

$195 

Sarrus Software, 777 -C Woodside Rd. 
#101, Redwood City, CA 94051. 
415/306-2495; info@sarrus.com. 



envelopes with postal bar codes and 
labels, including popular Avery for- 
mats, but SBook does a better job 
with labels. Each time you print 
labels, SBook allows you to choose 
the font for that particular print job, 
If the font size results in an address 
that's too long to fit on a label, SBook 
shrinks the text to fit. (Stay)In- 
Touch, however, controls the font 
used on labels via a global preference 
set for all label-printing jobs. There's 
no way to change fonts on the fly. 

SBook allows you to log all 
your activity. The phone-call log is 
particularly handy: You can time your 
call, take notes, and e-mail them to 
someone. Neither app, however, has 
the high-end contact-management 
features of a program like Who's 
Calling? from Adamation. SBook's 
ability to print out hard-copy address 
books will let you chuck your vul- i 
nerabie-to-loss handwritten address 
book in the trash. 

It's difficult to manipulate entrie 



30 MRMM JANUARY 1994 




SIMSON00001997 



REVIEWS 



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SBook allows you to quickly retrieve contact info (top window), compose a "quick" fax (bottom 
left), make a phone call, and log a phone call (bottom right!. 



'ii 



■p 



d 



< 



with either app. Although SBook 
lets you sort names alphabetically, it 
would be handy to be able to sort 
by date entered. (Stay)InTouch has 
no provision for sorting entries at 
all, not even alphabetically by last 
name. 

(Stay)InTouch does, however, 
allow you to group your entries into 
categories such as friends, clients, 
vendors, and so forth. This feature 
simplifies, for example, a quick scan 
for customer records while answer- 
ing a customer call. Or you could 
choose the prospects group as the 
target of your next direct-mail drop. 
In contrast, SBook doesn't let you 
group entries within a single SBook, 
and most users end up creating sep- 
arate SBooks for different categories 
of contacts. 

Neither app exports text suit- 
able for a database app like Data- 
Phile. To update a DataPhile data- 
base with new (Stay)InTouch and 
SBook entries, we had to resort to 
manually cutting and pasting each 
entry. Control over the format and 
fields of exported text would be a 
time-saving addition to either app. 

Positions, please 

Sarrus Software has positioned 
SBook as a tool for large corporate 
customers. SBook can be integrated 
with Sarrus's Pencil Me In schedul- 
ing application (see "Computer Dat- 
ing," NeXTWORLD, April/May 
1993). Many corporate customers 
use the app to create and distribute 
corporate phone lists. 



(Stay)ln Touch is aimed squarely 
at the small-office or home-office 
user who needs to manage a variety 
of contacts. Despite playing catch- 
up with an established competitor, 
SmartSoft says it is committed to 
aggressively improving the app. The 
company sent us four revisions dur- 
ing the course of this review, each a 
bit more solid than its predecessor. 

For now, we recommend the fast 
and reliable SBook without reserva- 
tion for corporate customers and 
for those with heavy-duty contact- 
management needs. Users with less 
stringent contact-management de- 
mands should find (Stay)InTouch 
useful, assuming SmartSoft main- 
tains its commitment to improve- 
ment. % 

Seth Ross k a NeXTWORLD 
contributing editor and a publisher 
of San Francisco-based Albion 
Books. 



Sarins Introduces a Powerful 
Idea in Scheduling. 




1 LiFte-fUS- 



■y^0/^m^&^^^ 



XB fTF&E Training rare, Par! W 
IWemblf 
Pretustaer testing 




It I i 

Simplicity. 



Other scheduling software 
promises you power — if you're 
willing to give up ease of use. We 
developed Pencil Me In™ because 
you told us you needed both. 

The ROI of Croup Scheduling 

Enterprises from small businesses 
to the Fortune 1000 are discover- 
ing that group scheduling gives 
them a tangible return on their 
investment. Why? Because people 
who work in groups spend a large 
part of each work day coordi- 
nating meetings, juggling action 
items, and hunting down con- 
ference rooms. Group scheduling 
software makes these tasks more 
efficient for individuals and for 
whole organizations. 

Power and Ease of Use 

Pencil Me In is the leader in group 
scheduling on NEXTSTEP for a 
simple reason. It's the only 
product that gives you the power 



of true enterprise scheduling with 
the simplicity of a paper time 
planner. 

Full-Featured and Flexible 

Pencil Me In lets everyone 
manage their time their own way. 
Eight customizable formats with 
alarms and security. Click-to-type 
appointments and action lists. 
Group calendars to coordinate 
schedules, and shared calendars to 
reserve conference rooms. 

Call Us for a Free Demo 

Our customers love Pencil Me In. 
We think you will too. Call us at 
1-800-995-1963 for a demo of 
Pencil Me In. And simplify 
everyone's life. 



Sarrus Software, Inc. 

565 Pilgrim Drive, Suite C 
Foster City, CA 94404 
(415) 345-8950 



SOFTWARE info@sarrus.com 




$ Copyright 1993. Sarrus Software, Inc. AS Rights Reserved. Pencil Me In is a trademark of Sarrus Software. Inc. 
NEXTSTEP is a registered trademark ol NeXT Computer, Inc. 



Circle 73 on reader service card 



JANUARY 1994 NSfflULD 31 

SIM SON 0000 1998 



REVIEWS 



Stereo Choices 



Two new modelers 
between ease of use 

by Lee Sherman 



let users choose 
and power 



Because they both rely on 
Pixar's RenderMan soft- 
ware, intuitiv'3d from 
Intuitive Technologies 
and solidThinking MOD- 
ELER from Gestel Italia are both 
capable of generating breathtaking 
photorealistic images. But both take 
radically different approaches to 
modeling 3-D worlds. The Intuitive 
Technologies entry sports one of the 
best interfaces we have ever seen, 
while Gestel added even more func- 
tionality to its product, and solid- 
Thinking MODELER remains the 
power choice for expert Tenderers. 

Dejavu 

Proving the old adage wrong, Intu- 
itive Technologies got it right in this 
first version of intuitiv'3d. The app 
seems instantly familiar because of 
its success in combining the best ideas 
seen in other programs into a smoothly 
accessible whole. The program takes 
good advantage of the NEXTSTEP 
user interface, providing inspectors, 
drag-and-drop palettes, and browsers 
for all of the elements that make up a 
3-D world. It organizes shapes, shad- 
ers, lights, and even complex math- 
ematical functions into a library win- 
dow in which they are represented 
by icons that can be dragged and 
dropped into the main work area. In 
addition to the library, intuitiv'3d 
includes a Scrapbook window that 
can hold any combination of these 
items, including camera views, on a 
temporary basis. 

The world browser presents the 
object hierarchy in a window that 
strongly resembles a File Viewer and 
works just as you would expect. You 
can use the browser to quickly navi- 
gate to any shape, select specific 
shapes for editing, and combine shapes 
into groups. 

All of the primitives provided 
with the program remain fully edit- 
able, but if this isn't enough, you can 
create your own geometry from 



32 NHTINRII JANUARY 1994 



scratch by using the lathing, sweep- 
ing, and lofting tools. Anyone who 
has used 2-D illustration packages 
like Virtuoso will feel at home draw- 




intuitiv'Sd lives up to its name by providing an interface modeled 
on the workspace, with browsers, libraries, and inspectors. 

ing Bezier curves that can be extruded plete, but Intuitive Technologies has 



and revolved into new shapes. You 
can also import RIB files, which arrive 
with all of their geometry, lighting, 
and other attributes intact. 

The direct-manipulation tech- 



still left room for expansion. Its mod- 
ular environment can be extended 
by adding modules that connect it to 
programs such as Mathematica and 
ZZVolume. Like all good object-ori- 



niques employed by the program are ented software, it also includes an 
greatly enhanced by its impressive open API, which allows program- 



response time - intuitiv'3d is fast 
enough to provide real-time smoothly- 
shaded graphics. 



mers to add new functions to the 
program. 



ti S£»ftj? WOOfcltft fehlJJ 








solidThinking puts you at the center of your 3-D universe, display- 
ing multiple views and control options m this single window. 



In other programs of this type, 
it can be confusing to try to deter- 
mine whether you are moving the 
camera or the objects located in three- 
dimensional space, but intuitiv^d 
keeps things simple by providing sep- 
arate views for these two purposes. 

Unique to intuitiv'3d is the con- 
cept of metashaders. A metashader 
is a superset of a surface shader that 
includes additional parameters such 
as color, transparency, and lighting. 
Metashaders are defined by their abil- 
ity to simulate not just metal, glass, 
or plastic, as with a regular shader, 
but a specific type of material, such 
as reflective metal, solid glass, or 
stippled plastic. 

For the first version of a pro- 
gram, intuirjv'3d is remarkably com- 



For gums only 

You could not find a 
clearer counterpoint 
to intuitiv'3d's app- 
roach dian solid Think- 
ing MODELER 12. 
Like FrameMaker, 
solidThinking concen- 
trates more on pro- 
viding almost god-like 
control than an inter- 
face that is usable by 
mere mortals. The 
interface, which has 
more in common with 
high-end software run- 
ning on Silicon Graph- 
ics workstations, will take some 
getting used to if you've used 3-D 
graphics software on a Mac, DOS, 



solicmiinking MODELER 1.2 



• $ $ si 




Wis update to the powerful 3-D modeler 
adds Intel support, new features like 
motion blur, and the ability to import a 
wider variety affile formats > including 
Wavefront, DXF, and OpenCAD files. 
Still suffers from an awkward interface. 

$1400 

Gestel Italia srl, Viale dell'Oreficeria 30/P, 
1-36100 Vicenza, Italy. 39/444/96.49.74. 
39/444f%.49M fax; mfo@soUgestei.it. 
In North America, Alembic Systems 
International 14 Inverness Dr. E»Ste. 
G2B, Englewood. CO 80112. 303/799- 
6223, 806/452-7608, 303/799-1435 fax, 
info@alembk.com. 



or Windows ma- 
chine. solidThinking 
delivers on the prom- 
ise of its complexity, 
however, with excep- 
tional power for the 
right user. 

Within a single 
window, solidThink- 
ing displays the same 
four views as intui- 
tiv'3d and includes a 
hierarchical browser - 
but that's where the 
similarities end. Most 
unusual is its lack of drag-and-drop 
palettes for objects, shaders, and light- 
ing, a feature seen in nearly every 
other NEXTSTEP 3-D program. 

Version 12 brings solidThink- 1 
ing to NEXTSTEP for Intel and 
adds many advanced features to an 
already powerful program, includ- 
ing a motion-blur capability for sim- ; 
ulating moving objects (a true ani- 
mation capability is still missing). The 



iiituitiv'Sd 1.0 



$ $ $ $ si 



The best interface yet on a NEXTSTEP 
3-D program helps make the complex 
world of 3-D graphics accessible to low- 
and midrange. users, while still providing 
plenty of power at the high end, 

$695 

intuitive Teclmologies, hnmeuble Sedg- - 
wick, 7 Rue E. & A. Peugeot, 92563 
Rueil Malmaisan Ccdex, France. 33/1/ 
47.08.74.40; info@cubx.coin. In North 
America, Alembic Systems International, 
14 Inverness Dr. E.,Ste. G228, Engle- 
wood, CO mi 12. 303/799-6223, 800/ 
452-7608, 303/799-1435 fax; info@ 
•.ilembic.com. 

motion-blur effect is easy to gener- 
ate. You first define an object's start- 
ing point, record its current position, 
then move it using the translate, scale, 
and rotate commands. When you 
render the image, you'll see the effect, 

solidThinking is perhaps the 
most powerful modeler available 
for NEXTSTEP, but even interme- \ 
diate users may find it daunting. 

With these two entries, NEXT- 
STEP remains a preeminent platform 
for 3-D work. They don't really com- 
pete against each other, but both 
draw on the inherent power of the 
bundled RenderMan to serve dif- 
farent user bases. $ 



Lee Sherman is a con- 
tributing editor to NeXTWORLD, 




SIM SON 0000 1999 



REVIEWS 




first Tests With 3.2 

For the first time, we were able to run NEXTSTEP 3.2 on the machines 

tested for Box Scores. Because 3.2 is covered elsewhere in this 
issue, we'll confine this discussion to hardware compatibility. 
The 3.1 kernel included drivers for everything one 
might possibly need at boot time. This setup resulted in 
two problems: Every kernel was excessively large, contain- 
ing unneeded drivers, and no provision existed for incor- 
porating additional boot-time drivers as they became 
available. With 3.2, most of the drivers in the 3.1 kernel have 
been removed from the Intel version of the 3.2 kernel, and only 
those drivers that are needed during boot are loaded at that time. 
We were given the opportunity early in the installation process to load 
drivers via floppy disk. This allows for unrestricted expansion of hardware sup- 
port between releases of the OS and also keeps the kernel lean and fast. 

With loadable boot-time drivers comes the new driver API, which is more 
complete and better documented than in 3.1. Drivers written for 3.1, however, 
will not work with 3.2. This limitation does not pose a problem, because all of 
the 3.1 drivers that NeXT released separately have equivalents in 3.2. But if 
someone attempted to install a 3.1 driver on a 3.2 system, the machine could 
be rendered unusable. 

With the new driver API and the wide release of DriverKit, we will likely 
see many new drivers appearing on archive sites. Greater driver availability has 
many benefits, but we caution users to be wary. Writers of public-domain drivers 
may not be able to test them on a range of systems that is broad enough to 
ensure stability. The real benefit of the public API will be for manufacturers who 
need to write drivers for their hardware. % 

by U Carling 



Box Score Developer 



GECF86 



• $ $ $ 

$5745(3s configured) 

Configuration 

DX2/66; 32MB RAM; 1GB SCSI drive; 
; 1120-by-832, 16-bit ATI graphics; 6 EISA; 
2 EISA/VLB slots; 17-inch monitor. 

NeXTWQRLD benchmarks 




Webster Compile 



Performance 

Good performance, especially on the real- 
world developer benchmark. Held back 
by an average disk. 

Video 

Average graphics. Not very fast, and the 
colors are washed out. Adequate for gen- 
eral use, but a graphic artist would need a 
different monitor. 

System design 

Rugged, but not put together as well as 
possible. Lots of design wins in expand- 
ability. Somewhat noisy. 



NEXTSTEP (mentation 

NEXTSTEP is preinstalled. One tech- 
support person is very NEXTSTEP- 
sawy but only works part-time. 

Support 

One year parts, two years labor. Unlim- 
ited toll-free tech support. No money- 
back guarantee, but GEC guaranrees 
NEXTSTEP will run as advertised. 




Value 

Low price for highly rated machine. In- 
cludes sound card and speakers as con- 
figured. 

Contact 

GEC, 1901 E. University #300, Mesa, 
AZ 85203. 602/834-1111, 800/486- 
1000. 



Box Score Developer 



ALR Evolution IV 4E/66D 



% % % 

$51138 (as configured) 

Configuration: 

DX2/66; 36MB RAM; 340MB SCSI 
drive; 1024-bv-768, 16-bit ATI graphics; 
6 EISA; 2 EISA/VLB slots; 1 7-inch color 
monitor. 

NeXTWORLD benchmarks 




MIPS V-V D-V Disk Webster Compile 



Performance 

Good performance in raw processing is 
slowed by a hard disk that was designed 
a few years ago. 

Video 

ATI graphics slow up this machine, but 
its video is crisp and stable. Color is bet- 
ter then average. 

System design 

This machine's strength. Lots of slots, 



good form factor. A little noisier than 
average. 

NEXTSTEP orientation 

Selling into NeXT market, but software 
isn't preinstalled. Tech support is unfa- 
miliar with NEXTSTEP. 

Support 

Excellent. Five-year warranty on ALR 
parts, 15 months on peripherals. 30-day 
money-back guarantee on direct sales. 
Toll-free support included. 



\u 








,? ^jjj 


'...._._ 


. 




■ 


* 


1 




^Ji 


BSi 


■ 






' 


. 





Value 

Competitive price for a well-built 
machine. 

Contact 

ALR, 9401 ieronimo, Irvine, CA 
92718. 714/581-6770, 800/444-1234. 




Located in the heart of Chicago's Loop, NationsBanc - CRT is your 
NeXT step towards a rewarding career with an industry leader. Our 
leading edge technology coupled with a fast paced, casual environ- 
ment has everything you will need to be successful. 

As one of the largest financial derivatives trading firms in the 
world, NationsBanc - CRT is well known in the financial indus- 
try for the state-of-the-art trading systems that support our 
world-wide trading operations. New projects and developments 
have created an immediate need for: 



NeXT Software Engineers 

to design arid develop NeXT-based applications 
for real-time trading and financial engineering. 



A BS in Computer Science, or equivalent, and two years expe- 
rience required. Fluency in C programming language coupled 
with programming experience in one of the following environ- 
ments is essential: NeXTStep, X, Macintosh or MS Windows. 
Solid background in object-oriented languages such as C++, 
Objective-C, CLOS or Smalltalk also required. Superior commu- 
nication abilities a must. Financial industry experience, a strong 
mathematical background and relational database experience 
highly desired. 

Make NationsBanc - CRT your NeXT step. We offer a competi- 
tive compensation package and full benefits. Not to mention all 
the things Chicago has to offer: a low cost of living, highly 
acclaimed restaurants, night clubs and theaters and world class 
sports teams. 

For consideration, please direct your resume with salary history 
to: NatbnsBanc-CRT, Human Resources - Dept NSE, 440 S. LaSalle, 
Chicago, IL 60605. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V. 

NationsBanc-CRT 



Circle 57 on reader service card 












Photographs by Sharp Shots 



JANUARY 1994 



33 



SIMSON00002000 



REVIEWS 



Fax Solution 



HPl EXTSTEPhashadbuilt- 
| in support for fax mo- 
i j dems since Version 2.0, 
tk\ | but it only supports two 
■"™™ modems - Interfax and 
HSD's FaxMaster 96/24X - neither 
of which is now readily available. If 
you want to send and receive faxes in 
today's world, you'll need a third- 
party fax driver in addition to a fax 
modem. We recommend Black & 
White Software's NXFax, which 
earned a 1993 NeXTWORLD Best 
of Breed award for utility software 
in combination with ZyXEL 1496 
fax modems. 

NXFax supports a wide variety 
of fax modems (ZyXEL, Telebit, 
Supra, and others), automatically 
switches a modem between fax and 
data calls, and provides an innova- 
tive monitoring program that tells you 
exactly what your modem is doing. 
It even displays the phone number of 
the incoming fax machine and the 
page number of the fax that is cur- 



rently being received or transmitted. 

NXFax also supports Distinctive 
Ring, so you can share a single phone 
line with the fax modem and have 
it pick up only faxes, and Caller-ID, 
for those who want an extra mea- 
sure of security. 

Black & White sells NXFax alone 
or bundled with the ZyXEL U-1496E 
or U-1496 PLUS modems. We looked 
at the new versions of these modems 
and they were just as good as the ma- 
chines to which we gave perfect rat- 
ings last year (see "Just the Fax," 
NeXTWORLD, Winter 1992}. Both 
modems support a wide array of 
protocols, including V.22bis, V.32, 
V,32bis, and V.42. The fax compo- 
nent sends and receives at 9600 baud. 
The U-1496E, sporting some new 
microcode, has worked flawlessly 
over a three-month test period, though 
it took about 30 seconds to hand- 
shake with the five-year-old fax ma- 
chine we called regularly. If you 
spend the extra money for ZyXEL's 



U-1496 PLUS modem, you'll also 
get a little LCD screen on the mo- 
dem that shows you the current data 
throughput in each direction. The 
U-1496 PLUS also contains a pro- 
prietary ZyXEL protocol that can 
communicate at up to 38K baud with 
another U-1496 PLUS. For our mon- 
ey, we'll take the cheaper U-1496E. 
Besides working as a fax modem, 
NXFax interoperates seamlessly with 
all UNIX comiuunications programs, 




modem, and cable; $i 
U-1496 PIUS modem. 



aU-14S6E 
ax, 2yX£t 



such as tip, cu, kermit, and uucp. A 

lockout feature keeps you from try- 
ing to use the data mode when youi 
system is busy sending or receiving 
a fax, or vice versa. 

The NXFax installer and moni- 
tor programs implement an innova 
tive on-line help system that displays 
in a hint window a one-sentence ex- 
planation of the button or text field 
underneath the mouse cursor, simi- 
lar to a variety of programs now run- 
ning under Microsoft Windows. 

Annoyingly, NXFax comes with- 
out a single page of printed docu 
mentation. Instead, all documentation * 
is on line in the NeXT Help format 
within the NXFax Monitor program 
NXFax is not the only NEXTSTEP 
program to follow this pattern, and 
we hate it. It can be a real pain for 
people (like me) who like to lie down 
in their hammock and read a pro- 
gram's documentation. $ 



P 



frySiMSON L. Garfinkel 



NeXTribquism 




along control of a remote 
computer - screen, key- 
board, mouse, and all - 
has long been possible in 
the PC and Macintosh 
world with software like Timbuktu 
and Carbon Copy Plus. Now this 
useful ability comes to NEXTSTEP 
with the release of ScreenCast, an 
excellent screen-sharing utility from 
Otherwise. 

Using ScreenCast, you can repli- 
cate one computer's display on an- 
other computer on your network. As 
the sender's display changes, so does 
the receiver's, updating in real time. 
If you prefer, both keyboards can be 
active, and either the sender or the 
receiver can drive the session. 

Sessions aren't limited to two 
machines. Only network bandwidth 
imposes a practical limit; with more 
than 20 computers in a session, updat- 
ing becomes unacceptably slow. 



ScreenCast was originally de- 
signed for use in the classroom. With 
it, students can follow along with an 
instructor on their own machines, 
instead of squinting at an inevitably 
out-of-focus screen projector. Despite 
its suitability for the classroom, more 
people are gomg to buy ScreenCast 
for its two-machine applications. 

ScreenCast is a godsend for tech- 
support providers. When users call 



ScreenCast 1.03 



$ $ $ $ 

An excellent implementation of a remote 
controller for NEXTSTEP machines. A 
godsend for education, technical support, 
and remote conferencing, 

$140 for a single-user fixed license; $160 
per user for a floating-network license. 

Otherwise, 1501 Lowe Ave., Bellmgbam, 
WA 98226. 206/647-9436, 206J73S-6017 
fax;$creenca$t(@otberwse.com. 



with a problem, a technician can look 
at their display in real time, see what 
they're doing, and show them how 
to resolve it on the spot. System ad- 
ministrators can do more tasks re- 
motely, which is convenient when the 
network spans several buildings and 
essential when it spans several coun- 
tries. As a "shared whiteboard," 
ScreenCast lets users collaborate on 
a document in any NEXTSTEP app- 
lication. 

In our tests, ScreenCast per- 
formed as advertised. We found no 
problems, and Otherwise claims it 
does not even plan another release 
because its users have found no bugs 
and have no suggestions for im- 
provement! It was very easy to install 
and run, and the on-line documen- 
tation covers everything you need to 
know to use it effectively. 

It's important to read and under- 
stand all of the documentation before 
you get started. Improperly used, 
ScreenCast can be a real hazard to 
your network security. Adequate safe- 
guards are provided, but like dead 



bolts and passwords, they only woA 
if they're used. You may also want 
to think about a usage policy, be 
cause ScreenCast is capable of gen- 
erating enough network traffic to 
clog the system, especially if used 
over a wide-area net. 

According to the documentation, 
some applications that use unusual $ 
techniques to speed up display per-fl 
formance, like Mathematica and ( 
some X Window packages, may 
be replicated by ScreenCast. If you 
have a key application that you'n 
unsure about, try it before you buy 
ScreenCast. You may be pleasant! 
surprised; we didn't expect Screen- 
Cast to work well with VirtSpace, 
but it did. 

ScreenCast 1.03 supports both 
Intel and Motorola architectures, and 
requires NEXTSTEP 3.0 or later. | 



by Rob Wilen 



34 MOm JANUARY 1994 




SIMSON00002001 



REVIEWS 






QuickStart 2.0 



9 I $ si 

$79 

Aurora Software, 1 6 N. A/fen SC, Madison, 
m 53705. 608/231-3679, 800/578-4809, 
608/23 111 83 fax; mfo@as. com. 



At a time when smaller monitors are 
proliferating in the NEXTSTEP 
community, this much-improved re- 
lease of QuickStart, a Dock-exten- 
sion app, is particularly opportune. 
QuickStart provides a small, easy- 
to-use window in which users can 
organize specific apps, files, and fold- 
ers into different sections and then 
launch or open them without sort- 
ing through a File Viewer. An ex- 
panded feature set provides greater 
refinement and usability, outshining 
competitors like MetroTools and 
LaunchPad, though Engage! remains 
the pinnacle of Dock-extension apps 
because of its originality and supe- 
rior usability. QuickStart 's other 
features include mass launching of 
selected items at start-up and broad 
control over the display of both the 
QuickStart window and application 
icons. Although a few elements of 
the interface are unnecessarily quirky, 
users who need to conserve screen 
real estate will find QuickStart intu- 
itive and useful. We are raising its 
rating from three cubes to three-and- 
a-half. PC 



The Electronic AppWrapper, 
Third Edition CD-ROM 



I # # $ \1 

$48 for a one-year subscription 

Paget Press, 1125 Western Ave. #300, 
Seattle, WA 98121. 206/448-0845; 
ww@paget.com. 



The third installment of the Elec- 
tronic AppWrapper brings several 
improvements to its multimedia com- 
pendium of NEXTSTEP products 
and services while continuing to reflect 
a sense of the community behind it. 
Intel users will benefit from the most 
complete listing of Intel-ready prod- 
ucts anywhere. The new overmap 
lists products by category, making it 
easier to zero in the exact item you 
want among the hundreds listed. Paget 
seems to have eliminated several bot- 
tlenecks, speeding browsing up a bit, 
though this area could still use im- 
provement. LS 



Reviews Desk 

Safety first, NEXTSTEP users! Moving over to the Intel universe, we are 
finding wide variations in mice, keyboards, and monitors. Poorly designed 
data-entry devices can result in repetitive-stress injuries, and flickering, 
fuzzy monitors can cause severe eye strain. Even after you buy a machine 
you can upgrade it in the aftermarket. We'll periodically look at some of 
these items, beginning here with the excellent ergbhomic Microsoft 
mouse. - Dan 1 ..win 



This month 's gang includes P AIM C l R 1 1 1 



YS (PC), Rl 

i . S ) , and mvselt 



Hollywood Edge CD-ROM 



\t $ $ # 

$450 

Tonal Images, 410 W. 23rd St. #2H. New 
York, NY 10011212/691-7933. 



With the Hollywood Edge sound- 
effects library, you can draw on the 
exact same studio effects, cartoon- 
sound effects, and musical samples 
used by professional film, television, 
and radio producers, though you 
can use the sounds without incur- 
ring any royalty charges. The sounds 
are professionally recorded and lack 
the distortion and dropouts that often 
mar public-domain material. Pre- 
produced combination sounds pro- 
vide a head start in creating stingers. 
Unfortunately, the care taken in pro- 
ducing the sounds wasn't extended 
to the preparation of the disk itself. 
Navigation is only offered through 
a File Viewer, and documentation 
is nonexistent, leaving you on your 
own. LS 



Laser TechFonts 



$ $ # # 

S139 

Nisus Softivare, 107 S. CedrosAve., Solana 
Beach, CA 92075. 619/481-1477; nisus@ 
weber.ucsd.edu. 



Laser TechFonts is a collection of 
20 typefaces specifically designed for 
engineering and scientific use. The 
entire set of fonts is composed of 
specialized characters for word-pro- 
cessing tasks like setting mathemat- 
ical equations, inserting scientific 
values, creating fractions, and devis- 
ing schematics for digital or analog 
circuits. The characters are high qual- 



ity and come in a multiple-architec- 
ture NEXTSTEP version, as well as 
PostScript and TrueType versions for 
the Macintosh. If you frequently use 
scientific notation, engineering illus- 
trations, or mathematical equa- 
tions and find that vou don't have 
all the characters you need, this 
package is exactly what you have 
been missing. RR 



Microsoft Mouse 



$ $ $ $ si 

S109 

Microsoft Corporation, 1 Microsoft Way, 
Redmond, WA 98052. 206/882-8080. 
8001426-9400. 



One of the benefits of the move to 
Intel is leaving behind NeXT's hideous 
original mouse. Even the round Apple 
Desktop Bus mouse was an acquired 
taste. Over on the PC side, mice have 
been evolving for years. NeXT- 
WOKLD sees a lot of mice on a lot 
of demo machines, and our favorite 
so far is the new one from Micro- 
soft. Sculpted to fit your hand, it is 
ergonomic without being self-con- 
sciously so. Liberated from Micro- 
soft Windows by NEXTSTEP mouse 
drivers, it moves smoothly and tracks 
like a figure skater. Lefties beware, 
though: This beauty is only for right- 
handed mousing. DL 



Rosebase 

Relational Database Server for NEXTSTEP 

Features: Joins, Views, Aggregates, Subqueries, Scalar 
and date functions, Data manipulation, Multiple indicies, 
Declarative referential integrity, Query optimization. 

Data types: TINYINT, SMALLINT, INTEGER, 
DOUBLE PRECISION, REAL, FLOAT, DECIMAL, 
NUMERIC, CHAR, VARCHAR, DATE, TIME, 
TIMESTAMP, BIT, VARBIT, BYTE, VARBYTE. 

Includes: Server, ObjC client library, DBKit adaptor, 
Query tool (w/ source), Example apps (w/ source). 




Blue Rose Systems 



800-821 -ROSE 

Email: rosebase@BlueRose.com 

Phone: 41 5-949-2426 Fax: 41 5-941 -71 29 



Circle 81 on reader service card 






M xtiiADV iaa.4 uevTiiMiDiB ie 



SIMSON00002002 



REVIEWS 



kennit, and uucp. A 
: keeps you from try- 
ata mode when your 
sending or receiving 
ersa. 

x installer and moni- 
lplement an innova- 
) system that displays 
w a one-sentence ex- 
e button or text field 
mouse cursor, simi- 
if programs now run- 
:rosoft Windows. 
, NXFax comes with- 
»e of printed docu- 
ad, all documentation 
NeXT Help format 
ax Monitor program, 
he only NEXTSTEP 
3W this pattern, and 
in be a real pain for 
who like to lie down 
>ck and read a pro- 
bation. $ 

,. Garfinkel 



QuickStart 2.0 



Microsoft Mouse 



}rds, they only work 
fou may also want 
a usage policy, be- 
lt is capable of gen- 
network traffic to 
, especially if used 
met. 

) the documentation, 
is that use unusual 
eed up display per- 
vlathematica and 
i packages, may not 
ScreenCast. If you 
ication that you're 
y it before you buy 
i may be pleasantly 
in't expect Screen- 
ell with VirtSpace, 

1.03 supports both 
la architectures, and 
FEP 3.0 or later % 

•n 




SIMSON00002003 



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TO CERTAIN COMPANIES, ChOOSing 

an object-oriented system years 
before it's available from the 
industry giants seems like a risk. 

Toothers, though, passing up 
a compelling competitive advantage 




program functions. So there's no 
danger of breaking an applicatior 
when all you want to do is updatt 

a single function. This structure 
allows you to evolve your custom 
applications to quickly exploit re- 



presents a far more dangerous risk. jammgw business opportunities, since it 

So they use NEXTSTEP 11 for Intel 8 -^^SfcBBte lets you ieverage past efforts ^ 
Processors the first and only nextstep conserves your most valuable resource, reusing or modifying objects 
operating system and development environment you know to be tried and true, 
optimized for objects from top to bottom. Even before you start to build a custom I 

It's really the soft- 
ware equivalent of the 
Industrial Revolution. 



application in NE 
already finished. ! 
a library of object: 
of the functionalit 

most programs - 
text editing, printi 
graphics, color se 
Our Interface 
more than mere p 
an ordinary "screi 
complex enterpris 



THE OBJECT 



Just as modern factories allowed products to be 
built from prefabricated component parts instead 







.A 



"> 



& 



V 



Object-oriented 
NEXTSTEP 
applications work 
like most 
organizations j 

do. Each 

object has a 

function, and 

can message 

another/or 

information or 

processing help. 




of being 
custom 
built by 
hand, 
object- 



onentation 
lets developers build complex applications by 
using prebuilt software components. The result — 
mission-critical custom applications that can be 
developed up to ten times faster. 

Every NEXTSTEP application is comprised of 
independent and easily accessible objects that 
encapsulate both the code and data for individual 



p 




SIMSON00002004 



REVIEWS 



, kermit, and uucp. A 

e keeps vou from try- 



■■■■■■1 


■■■■■■■■■■i 


■■■■■■■■■■ 


■■■■ pH^BHli 


[^ QuickStart 2.0 


hiw 


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tions. So there's no 
aking an application 
vant to do is update 
on. This structure 
Bvolve your custom 
) quickly exploit new 
)rtunities, since it 
ge past efforts by 
lodifying objects 



application in NEXTSTEP much of your work is manipulating real objects and not just images. You 
already finished. Because NEXTSTEP comes with can even add new objects which are automatically 
a library of objects representing over 80% 



[mmm 



jig*« 



of the functionality that is common to 
most programs — including objects for 
text editing, printing, faxing, sound, 3D 
graphics, color selection and more. 



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recognized by the system. NEXTSTEP 
also comes with object kits such as the 
Database Kit™ which lets you assemble 
data-intensive applications without 
worrying about how your database is 



Our Interface Builder "gives you much ^IJoj otjecu^ttms structured. Simply connect your custom 

common to most programs, 

more than mere prototyping tools. Unlike famptimng® fating, application to an adapter object (Oracle 
an ordinary "screen painter," it lets you construct and Sybase adapters are included)and it just works. 



jild a custom complex enterprise applications graphically, 



NEXTSTEP, however, is only the tip of the object 



ER DEVELOPMENl 



iceberg. Because it 
offers so many rich 
opportunities for new, 





more sophisticated software, it's already spawned 
an entirely new industry: ObjectWare? 

There are now over 1,400 NEXTSTEP objects 
available from more than a hundred object vendors. 
So when you write NEXTSTEP applications, you 
have fast access to pre-written, rock-solid objects 
for an exciting world of advanced functions, from 
text-to-speech to data feed and bar codes. 

Of course, faster and better ways to develop 
don't mean much unless 
you can distribute your 
applications through- Weprovii 

advanced client! sercer applications, and 

out your company, suppmforotjmxa c++miANsic 

So stay with us for just a few pages more. We 
promise to make this fast. 




SIMSON00002005 



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.w-rfen an rhf mn- lnrlf.mil" fparurp Ifppns vnn from trv- 



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To build a custom client/server system, you NEXTSTEP lets you deploy the benefits of object Because the syste 
would normally pick an operating system and then technology throughout your organization, it doesr common to all app 
go scavenging for the development tools to make it make you sacrifice even one of your standards, interface remains s 
work. NEXTSTEP offers a new approach. In one Built upon a solid, robust foundation of UNIX; application to appli 

shrinkwrapped box, you get one o^t^ecomUn^N^mEP^Hm^- NEXTSTEP integrates the ware integrates per 

1 ' J ° rockam s 9090 product jamtty, mowing you to develop ° ' 

unified environment, including ^nt^ap^moV^^ ■ desktop completely, allpwirJjEXTSTEP product 

across the entire enterprise, 

operating system, development from desktop to data center. J ik "X, Windows, MS-DOS, IBM all the popular DOS 

tools, integrated applications, database F 3270 and AS/400 applications to including full cut-ar 

access, full networking and more. It's co-exist, sharing data and services wifr So user accepta 

everything you need to build advanced NEXTSTEP applications. That way your legacy costly user training \ 

client/server systems. apps maintain their value and all your Windows, NEXTSTEP not c 




THE OBJECT IS SERIES 



I 



About the only 
thing it doesn't 
come with is risk: 
While it raises 
development 



standards by an order of magnitude, NEXTSTEP 
runs on standard Intel 
486 and Pentium* 
machines from such 
leading names as Dell, 
Compaq, NEC, Hewlett- 
Packard, Digital, NCR 
and Epson. (It's available 




in tk graphical 'world 'of 'NEXTSTEP, a user can 

access information across standard networks without hating 

to worn about the complexities of getting there. 



pre-loaded on many models.) And even though 



networking and file standards remain intact. computing environm 
NEXTSTEP Release 3.2 even comes complete sophisticated bundle 
with SoftPC from Insignia* which contains the cog 1 even greater product 
Microsoft® uses to emulate Windows applications NeXTmail "is built 
on Windows NT. So, powered by a 486 or Pentium into the system, giving 
chip, NEXTSTEP can run shrinkwrapped Window all connected users 
apps at near-native speed, ess to dra&aatdc 

NEXTSTEP also gives you fu compatible with UNIX 
support for TCP/IR NFS, GOSIP \ dictionary and thesaui 
POSIX and Novell networking consulted at any time, 
standards, with Macintosh® and application. And spell- 
MS-DOS file system compatibi- is a system object that 
Its greatest power, though, i summoned by any app 
the power it delivers to your company's users. NEXTSTEP objects 




S1MSON00002006 



REVIEWS 



kermit, and uucp. A 

3 Ifppns vnn from fry- 



QuickStart 2.0 




Microsoft Mouse 



benefits of object Because the system provides a set of objects 
ionization, it doesn';' common to all applications, the graphical 
: your standards. J interface remains simple and consistent from 




fl|Mac 



between applications, between users, 
even across networks. By tapping the 
power of PDO (Portable Distributed 
Objects), you can actually develop 



Dundation of UNIX! application to application. Your custom soft- xextstep supports 

, fust about evm standard. 

:P integrates the ware integrates perfectly with shrinkwrapped inAemih^mM objects on a NEXTSTEP client and 



7. 
I 



h 

K 



complete^ allgwjyiBTSTER productivity applications, as well as with 

ws, MS-DOS, IBM all the popular DOS and Windows applications — 

)0 applications to j including full cut-and-paste capabilities. 

} and services with So user acceptance goes up, and the need for 

vay your legacy costly user training goes down. 

ill your Windows, NEXTSTEP not only offers the most advanced 



LESS DEPLOYMENT. 



deploy them in completely different systems, so 
servers can utilize the same power. 

And while NEXTSTEP can deliver all of the 
advances of a revolutionary technology, it can also 
offer the day-to-day dependability of a tried-and- 
true system. Because that's exactly what it is. f 

Already in 

i 
its third 

release, i 




smain intact. computing environment, it comes complete with 
in comes complete sophisticated bundled applications that can brin^ 
h contains the code' even greater productivity to the organization. 



NEXTSTEP 

is polished, perfected and proven in the 
most demanding companies all around 





«*. 



igg sasEs a 






JOWS applications NeXTmail iS built Objects are a far biggeridea than any one computer. 

PDO can send messages across applications. 

a 486 or Pentium into the system, giving «w #® or across § whole planet - 

so information can stay up to date 

wrapped Windows ' all connected users «* ^en/m enterprise. ^ 
rtive speed r access to drag-and-drop multimedia mail (it's fully 



the world. (A comparable system from the giants of 
the industry— or anyone else— remains 
at least two to three years away.) 

So now you've seen how NEXTSTEP 
brings dramatic gains to both development 




P also gives you ful compatible with UNIX mail). The complete WebsterS® and deployment. At least you've seen it in theory. 

XEXTSTEP for Intel Processors /wis on industry-standard '486- and 'Pentium-based 'machines from the 
• P/lr; NFS, GOSIFJ ' dictionary and thesaurus Can be wrkfslmdingcompuM-malm. Its even (readable pre-loaded on many models. Just ask. 

ivell networking consulted at any time, from any 

h Macintosh® and application. And spell-checking 

ystem compatibility- s a system object that can be ''^General Compaq. D^U 9HRS NEC 

■t power, though, is" summoned by any application that requests it. If you can stay with us for one more page, we'd be 

ipany's users. NEXTSTEP objects, in fact, can send messages delighted to show you how it works in real life. 



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A growing number of companies have seen the gams to 
be made with a complete object-oriented system of soft- 
ware. Rather than buy a vaporous promise for the future, 
they've chosen real objects now: with NEXTSTEP And 
practically overnight, they've begun to reap the benefits. 

At McCaw 



Cellular, NEXTSTEP 
was employed to 

Even the press is impressed. NEXTSTEP has been rjpwnlnn a npw/ 
universally praised as the only real object system, ^ 

customer service system that manages all interaction with 
McCaw customers, distributors and dealers— a system 



^ 



<^><^Ban 





HIBRO 



LA CoUNTYSHfFS DET 

Abboit Labor*^ 



that will ultimately be deployed to 
a bout 4,000 users. 
With less code required, they 




THE OBJECT IS IE A 



estimate their first application was completed in about 
one-third the time it would have taken using OSF MOTIF 
or Windows. And as they build a library of airtight objects, 
they expect future applications to take even less time, 

At Swiss Bank Corporation, one of the world's leading 
options trading companies, NEXTSTEP has helped build a 
product line of consistent and easily maintained financial 
services applications. The sheer speed of NEXTSTEP devel- 
opment allows them to enter new markets with innovative 
financial products— and stay well ahead of the competition. 

Chrysler Financial evaluated tools like Windows and 
PowerBuilder: but they chose NEXTSTEP They found that 
there was nothing comparable for application development 
or database interface. Plus, NEXTSTEP lets their users run 
custom and shrinkwrapped apps in one consistent way. 

For them, the retail portion of their business is mission- 



*^2 






lliam Mis Age 



\ 



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Swiss B 



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SIMSON00002008 



, kermit, and uucp. A 

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QuickStart 2.0 



REVIEWS 




Microsoft Mouse 



SH^nsBanc-CRT 



Vibe 
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^K^ 




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ADIAN 






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critical. So they're using NEXTSTEP to create a system for 
processing automobile loans and leases at 100 financial 
centers across North America. By first creating generic 
business & financial objects, they expect to streamline 
future projects by sub-classing them into other objects— all 
of which can easily be updated across the organization. 

PanCanadian Petroleum Limited was 90% down the 
road to standardizing on Windows with PowerBuilder in 
creating their client/server development environment 
when they discovered NEXTSTEP and made the switch. 

Within two months, they were actually farther along in 



E ADVANTAGE. 




LIAM Mils AG 

So* % Cellular 
Si A 



their project, thanks to the object- 
oriented power of NEXTSTEP 
Now they believe they have 





CANTEL 

Skyway 
laters & Paine 

TIONALk OF CHICA' 




* FlNA^L j jiffy 





gained a two-to three-year lead over competitors who have 
decided to wait for object tech- 
nology from other sources. And 
they're using NEXTSTEP to 
deploy applications to 1,000 
users, delivering the necessary 
information to every professional 
practice in their business of oil 
and gas exploration. 

As you can see, NEXTSTEP 
object-oriented software is now 
paying dividends in companies 
from completely different indus- 
tries. Which proves that in the 
world of business, there is one thing that every company 
can use: a competitive advantage. 




Ihgvar Peturssbn 

Chief information Officer 

McCaw Cellular 



DmchtKoop 

Executive Din 
information I 
Swiss Bank Corporation 



SIMSON00002009 



apt a httip ill J srrppn nn rhp mn- Jark'nuf lratnrp kpm<; vnn tr 



We've shown you how object-oriented NEXTSTEP 
is helping successful companies develop and deploy 
custom applications faster and better. 

Now we'd like to give you the details, to give you a 
clearer picture of how NEXTSTEP can help streamline 
the most important company in the world: yours. 

Just call us at 1-800-TRY-NeXT. We'll promptly send 
you system hardware requirement sheets, white papers, 
technical evaluations and complete specifications for 

. GET A COMPLETELY 
OBJECTIVE POINT OF VIEW. 

both the NEXTSTEP user and developer environments. 

We can also give you information about upcoming 
NEXTSTEP seminars scheduled for your area. 

You'll gain valuable new insight on how to build a 
unique competitive advantage. And that, no doubt, is 
the most important object of all. 



NEXTSTEP Di 



January 24-26, 1994 - Washington D.C. 
To register for the NEXTSTEP East Coast 
Developer Contemner 




THE OBJECT IS THE ADVANTAGE, 



Mm lnm.se to SoftPCjmm Imtffiia. VpgmAetofsl! ' license vk fJmm. 









• 



, 



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AWBJFOO 



$ % # i 

$79 

Aurora Software, 1 6 N. Alle 
Wl 53705. 608/231-3679, 
608/2314183 fax; info@as., 

At a time when smaller 
proliferating in the N 
community, this much' 
lease of QuickStart, a '. 
sion app, is particularl 
QuickStart provides a 
to-use window in whi 
organize specific apps, f 
ers into different sectic 
launch or open them i 
ing through a File Vie 
panded feature set pre 
refinement and usabilit 
competitors like Met] 
LaunchPad, though En£ 
the pinnacle of Dock-e: 
because of its original] 
rior usability. QuickS: 
features include mass 
selected items at start-i 
control over the displa 
QuickStart window an 
icons. Although a few 
the interface are unnea 
users who need to con 
real estate will find Qi 
itive and useful. We a 
rating from three cube; 
a-half. PC 



the Electronic App* 
Third Edition CD-RI 



$ # # $ 6 

$48 for a one-year subscript! 

Paget Press, 2125 Western t 
Seattle, WA 98121. 206/441 
eaw@paget.com. 

The third installment 
ironic AppWrapper t 
improvements to its mu 
pendium of NEXTST 
and services while contu 
a sense of the commui 
Intel users will benefit I 
complete listing of Intt 
ucts anywhere. The n 
lists products by categ 
easier to zero in the ex 
want among the hundre 
seems to have eliminate 
tlenecks, speeding bro\ 
though this area couk 
provement. LS 




SIM SON 000020 10 



REVIEWS 



QuickStart 2.0 



I $ $ $ 

$79 

Aurora Software, 16 N. Allen St., Madison. 
Wl 53705. 608/231-3679, 800/578-4809, 
608/231-1183 fax; info@as.com. 

At a time when smaller monitors are 
proliferating in the NEXTSTEP 
community, this much-improved re- 
lease of QuickStart, a Dock-exten- 
sion app, is particularly opportune. 
QuickStart provides a small, easy- 
to-use window in which users can 
organize specific apps, files, and fold- 
ers into different sections and then 
launch or open them without sort- 
ing through a File Viewer. An ex- 
panded feature set provides greater 
refinement and usability, outshining 
competitors like MetroTools and 
LaunchPad, though Engage! remains 
the pinnacle of Dock-extension apps 
because of its originality and supe- 
rior usability. QuickStart's other 
features include mass launching of 
selected items at start-up and broad 
control over the display of both the 
QuickStart window and application 
icons. Although a few elements of 
the interface are unnecessarily quirky, 
users who need to conserve screen 
real estate will find QuickStart intu- 
itive and useful. We are raising its 
rating from three cubes to three-and- 
a-half. PC 



The Electronic AppWrapper, 
Third Edition CD-ROM 



I $ % $ $ 

$48 for a one-year subscription 

hp ?ress, 2125 Western Ave. #300, 
Seattle, WA 98121. 2061448-0845; 
emv@paget.com. 



The third installment of the Elec- 
tronic AppWrapper brings several 
improvements to its multimedia com- 
pendium of NEXTSTEP products 
and services while continuing to reflect 
a sense of the community behind it. 
Intel users will benefit from the most 
complete listing of Intel-ready prod- 
ucts anywhere. The new overmap 
lists products by category, making it 
easier to zero in the exact item you 
want among the hundreds listed. Paget 
seems to have eliminated several bot- 
tlenecks, speeding browsing up a bit, 
though this area could still use im- 
provement. LS 



Reviews Desk 

Safety first, NEXTSTEP users! Moving over to the Intel universe, we are 
finding wide variations in mice, keyboards, and monitors, Poorly designed 
data-entry devices can result in repetitive-stress injuries, and flickering, 
fuzzy monitors can cause severe eye strain, Even after you buy a machine 
you can upgrade it in the aftermarket. Well periodically look at some of 
these items, beginning here with the excellent ergonomic Microsoft 



mouse. - Dan Lay in 



tth '$ edtiz include* P , 



JLDS (RR). En: 



Hollywood Edge CD-ROM 



st # # $ 

$450 

Tonal Images, 41 W 23rd St. #2H. New 
York, NY 10011.212/691-7933. 



With the Hollywood Edge sound- 
effects library, you can draw on the 
exact same studio effects, cartoon- 
sound effects, and musical samples 
used by professional film, television, 
and radio producers, though you 
can use the sounds without incur- 
ring any royalty charges. The sounds 
are professionally recorded and lack 
the distortion and dropouts that often 
mar public-domain material. Pre- 
produced combination sounds pro- 
vide a head start in creating stingers. 
Unfortunately, the care taken in pro- 
ducing the sounds wasn't extended 
to the preparation of the disk itself. 
Navigation is only offered through 
a File Viewer, and documentation 
is nonexistent, leaving you on your 
own. LS 



Laser TechFonts 



# # # # 

$139 

Nisus Software, 107 S. Cedros Ave., Solatia 
Beach, CA 92075. 619/481 -1477; msus@ 
weber.ucsd.edu. 



Laser TechFonts is a collection of 
20 typefaces specifically designed for 
engineering and scientific use. The 
entire set of fonts is composed of 
specialized characters for word-pro- 
cessing tasks like setting mathemat- 
ical equations, inserting scientific 
values, creating fractions, and devis- 
ing schematics for digital or analog 
circuits. The characters are high qual- 



io ys (PC), Rick 



ity and come in a multiple-architec- 
ture NEXTSTEP version, as well as 
PostScript and TrueType versions for 
the Macintosh. If you frequently use 
scientific notation, engineering illus- 
trations, or mathematical equa- 
tions and find that you don't have 
all the characters you need, this 
package is exactly what you have 
been missing. RR 



Microsoft Mouse 



# $ # $ $ 

$109 

Microsoft Corporation, 1 Microsoft Way, 
Redmond, WA 98052. 206/882-8080, ' 
800/426-9400. 

One of the benefits of the move to 
Intel is leaving behind NeXTs hideous 
original mouse. Even the round Apple 
Desktop Bus mouse was an acquired 
taste. Over on the PC side, mice have 
been evolving for years. NeXT- 
WORLD sees a lot of mice on a lot 
of demo machines, and our favorite 
so far is the new one from Micro- 
soft. Sculpted to fit your hand, it is 
ergonomic without being self-con- 
sciously so. Liberated from Micro- 
soft Windows by NEXTSTEP mouse 
drivers, it moves smoothly and tracks 
like a figure skater. Lefties beware, 
though: This beauty is only for right- 
handed mousing. DL 



Rosebase 

Relational Database Server for NEXTSTEP 

Features: Joins, Views, Aggregates, Subqueries, Scalar 
and date functions, Data manipulation, Multiple indicies, 
Declarative referential integrity, Query optimization. 

Data types: TINYINT, SMALLINT, INTEGER, 
DOUBLE PRECISION, REAL, FLOAT, DECIMAL, 
NUMERIC, CHAR, VARCHAR, DATE, TIME, 
TIMESTAMP, BIT, VARBIT, BYTE, VARBYTE. 

Includes: Server, ObjC client library, DBKit adaptor, 
Query tool (w/ source), Example apps (w/ source). 




Blue Rose Systems 



800-821 -ROSE 

Email: rosebase@BlueRose.com 

Phone: 41 5-949-2426 Fax: 41 5-941 -71 29 



Circle 81 on reader service card 



IA \U1 A DV 10CM MWTVMDin 11 



SIMSON00002011 



1 



Product Showcase 



GraphBuilder 



fafeMl'IS!!-. 






■ ■ 




\u,lur;..,i>illvliUfi:iIi'.ih..ln.|u, (mi v,l: 




GraphBuilder™ delivers professional interactive, animated, and programmable 
graphing for end users and developers. Graphs and figures, such as those 
above, are effortlessly constructed without programming. Combined with our 
Graph object library and API, it is a powerful, reliable, and optimized graph- 
ing front end for your data server and mission critical applications. 
GraphBuilder features a complete and accessible arseal of user interface, pro- 
gramming, and data importing options. WI provides complete support and 
integration services. For ordering or product information please contact us. 

WI, lm./3l 1 Adams Ave./State College, FA 16803/814-234-9613 
Fax:814-234-9614 



Circle 101 on reader service card 



ACADEMY-CAD on NEXTSTEP! 




ACADEMY™ is a 2D CAD program which through its open and flexible 
structure, extends across many business fields, from mechanical and elec- 
trical engineering to architecture. The graphics engine, already in use on 
other hardware platforms, was combined with NEXTSTEP to make 
ACADEMY™ powerful, yet easy and logical to use. You won't find 
cryptic commands, endless parameter lists and time wasting dialogs or 
complex menu structures. However, the well designed usage concept still 
allows for precise numerical inputs, calculation of geometry and con- 
s HH?HP, r ?. ^F?. ^?.ytTJJ.?. s . ^y^^F.PJ.^^.^f.^t, _ Promotional price = $1 195.00 

North America/Dominion Technologies, Lti/(409) 696-1 S78/atodeBiy@o , tUDrau.edii 

Europe/Cube iirfosysteme GmbH/+49 71 II 3 1 1 70/Mo@«ibde 



Circle 303 on reader service card 



36fflmm JANUARY 1994 



The Last Word in NEXTSTEP Systems 



F«-— 



Pars International Computer 

NOW SHIPPING 

'486DX-66Mhz, EISA/VESA 
o 1MB Cache and 256 MB memory 
'entium™ Technology available 
starting at $1995. 




All of our systems are preloaded, configured, and tested with 
NEXTSTEP according to your requirements. Our customer ser- 
vice has made us No. 1, ask Clorox, Bank of America, Lawrence 
Berkeley Lab, UC Berkeley, Unisys Corp., EDS, PG&E, and 
many more. 

Order Desk Call Toll Free: 1-800-947-4742 



Pars International Computer/ 22441 Foothill Blvd./Hayward, CA 94541/1800) 947-4742 
[510] 733-0103 Fax (510) 733-0206 



Circle 102 on reader service card 



Complete Access 




Complete Access is the first object-oriented report writing application. 
Features include an intuitive graphical query builder which lets anyone 
create ad hoc queries without learning SQL, charting, and optional out- 
lining. Approximately 100 functions permit you to perform almost any 
type of calculation on your data. Use Complete Access to create not only 
your reports, but mail labels, envelopes, forms, list views, and more. 
Complete Access can be used with Rosebase, Sybase, Oracle, Informix, 
Interbase, or any other database for which an adaptor is available. 

Ocean Software, ln./8683 Autumn Green Dr. Suite #1 00/JocksoirA, FL 32256 
904-363- 1 646/inf e@o<eansof t.csm 



Circle 104 on reader service card 




SIM SON 000020 12 



Product Showcase 



ACCURATE TERMINAL EMULATION FOR NEXTSTEP 




Cables is the definitive terminal emulation and communications applica- 
tion for NEXTSTEP. Features: DEC VT320, VT220, VT102, ANSI-PC, 
DG D211, Tektronix 4010/4014 emulations; function keys and key- 
board mapping; connect directly to serial ports, shells, or remote hosts; 
built in file transfer protocols; full color support; drag and drop configu- 
rations and more. With accuracy, robustness, and ease of use, Cables is 
the clear choice for your interoperability and legacy application needs. 
Price: $189-5399. Available for Intel and NeXT hardware. 

Yrrid Incorporated/507 Monroe St./Chapel Hill, NC 27516/(919) 968-7858 
Fax (919) 968-7856/E-moil: yrrid@world.std.com 



GraphRight 




GraphRight is the most advanced, easy to use application for creating 
graphs and charts available for NeXTSTEP today. GraphRight's Object 
Oriented API can retrieve data from a variety of sources such as databases 
and stock feeds. 

Features include: •Full Distributed Object API 'Dynamic Object Linking 
•Error Bars and Linear Regression 'Intuitive Interface 'Backdrop Imaging 
•Easy to Use Table Based Data Editor »Full Rich Text Editing •Unlimited 
Undo 'Drag and Drop Everything •Discontinuous Selection of Data. 

Watershed Technologies Inc./ 1 3 Tremont St. Suite 3F/Marlboro , MA 01 752/(5081-460-961 2 
Fax (508J-481 -3955/graphright@watersbed.com 



Circle 105 on reader service card 



Circle 106 on reader service card 



Write Step~The NEXT Logical STEP in Word Processing. 




WriteStep is the word processor that gives you the power and ease of 
use that only NEXTSTEP can. Features include page footers and 
headers, the easy-to-use tool bar, drag and drop EPS and TIFF image 
import, and the ability to load and save font, ruler, and bullet styles. 
Built-in references include writer's guide, thesaurus, quote library, and 
rhyme dictionary. The tool bar provides one-burton access for 30 
commands including sorting, line numbering, indentation, justification, 
spell checking, line bullets, and more. 

Ciuso, Creative Imagineering America/3208 W. Lake St. Suite 133 /Minneapolis, MN 55416 
61 2-822-1 604/email: inio@dusa.com 



No Software for NeXTSTEP...? Try Again! 






SoundHouse DateWise WriteStep 



NOW SHIPPING!!! 

7 Applications 
10 Clip art Collections 
2 Sound clip Collections 



tiff cps 
gif snd 




Color 
ArtBursts 




SoundBursts 




ArtBursts 



-#— §— 6- 





}mi 




StepTools Rhythm King ArtCollector MediaTools 

All of our products come in one 68040/Zlntel version with high-quality 
and on-line documentation, 30-day no-questions asked money-back 
guarantee, tree upgrades for 120 days, helpful customer support, 
and a smile. Be forewarned - more great products are on the way! 

FREE CATALOG! Free demo: includes all packages 



Ciusa, Creative Imagineering America 3208 W. Lake St Suite 133 
Minneapolis, MN 55416 612-822-1604 email: info@ciusa.com 



Circle 107 on reader service card 



Circle 108 on reader service card 



SIMSON00002013 



Picture your ad here! 



Showcase your product 
or service here, NOW ONLY: 




through December '93 



Make the most of your advertising dollar by letting NeXTWORLD do 
the work tor you. The Product Showcase will give you extensive reach 
to a dedicated NEXTSTEP audience. It's perfect for introducing and 
test marketing new products. To participate, please submit the follow- 
ing: one tour-color transparency or 35mm slide, 75 words of ad copy; 
and a brief headline. NeXTWORLD handles color separation and ad 
layout for you. Deadline: Six days prior to issue close date. For media 
kit, please contact NeXTWORLD. 

Company Name / Street Address / City, State Zip Code / Telephone Number 
Fax Number / Modem Address / E-mail, Etc... 



Classified 



MISCELLANEOUS 



NeXTWORLD magazine Classifieds is a 
monthly feature. Rates effective 
February/March Issue. Per-line rates $15.00. 
Thirtv-six characters equal one line (count 
each fetter, space and punctuation mark as a 
character). Four-line minimum, seven lines 
per inch. For column inch rates, please call or 
write for complete rate card information. 
Check or money order (or certified check) 
must accompany copy and be received six 
days prior to close date. All ads accepted at 
the discretion of the publisher. 
SeXTWORLD magazine 501 Second St., San 
Francisco, CA 94107 415/978-3182. 




We do NeXT! 



•Hard drives 
•NeXT Systems 
•Software 

•Consulting 



s?f^ 



APPLICATIONS 



CheckSum™ 

Accounting App 

CheckSum is an accounting & bookkeeping 
app designed for personal and small business 
use on the NeXT. CheckSum organizes your 
income, expenses, property, and cash, 
balances your checkbook, and prints cheeks. 
Cut & paste reporting is featured. 

It's easy to Hack your 
finances in CheckSum! 

Version 1.1: $95- 
(For Intel & NeXT) 



Sirius Solutions, Inc.\S 

(415)957-9044 

checksura@sirius.com 




All your NeXT needs in one place at low 
prices. Large selection of new/used 
hardware and software, expert technical 
support, generous trade-in values, custom 
application development, and more. Call us! 

1-800-PIXEL-ME 

(310) 459-6831, FAX (310) 459-6055 




Trade your juicy insider tip for a 

collectible Lt. Sullivan coffee mug. 
E-mail sullivan@nextworld.com or 
leave a message on his voicemail 
415/978/3374. 



Advertiser Index 



RS# 


Company 


Page# 


RS# 


Company 


Page# 


91 


Alembic Systems 


15 


62 


JC Information Systems Corp. 


16 


76 


Alembic Systems 


15 


29 


Lighthouse Design 


C2 


48 


Alembic Systems 


29 


18 


Lucky-Goldstar 


9 


M 


Athena Design 


10 


58 


Martin Marietta 


13 


69 


Bell Atlantic 


3 


38 


Objective Technologies 


C4 


79 


Black & White Software 


13 


104 


Ocean Software 


36 


86 


BLaCKSMITH 


14 


59 


Pages 


2 


;si 


Blue Rose 


35 


26 


Paget Press 


39 


108 


Ciusa 


37 


102 


PARS International 


36 


107 


Ciusa 


37 


-71 

13 


Sarrus Software 


31 


1) 


Contemporary Cybernetics 


5 


57 


Shaker Advertising 


33 


91 


Data General 


C3 


56 


SmartSoft 


14 


103 


Dominion Technologies 


36 


101 


WI, Inc. 


36 


6 


East Coast Developer Conference 


12 


106 


Watershed 


37 




Epson America Comp Prod. Div. 


19 


105 


YRR1D 


37 


% 


GEC Computers 


11 









J* HXTWMID JANUARY 1994 




SIMSON00002014 



K)BJECTS»OB]ECTS*0BJECTS' 



New Database Kit™ Object Palettes 

Enhance Your Database Application 
Development Environment! 

RetrieverPalette™ - Query the Database Graphically. 



LinkPalette™ - Link Image, Text, and Sound files from 
the File System to your Database. 

ReportPalette™ - Generate Custom Database Reports. 

Order Your Copy From EAW Today! 



# 



per Development Machine 

$289.00 for All Three 



Shared 




. 



Quit Working Alone! 



Shared 




FSGroupWare provides a solution to your real-time data sharing 
and remote conferencing needs! FSGroupWare is a set of shared 
data applications that help support on-line collaborative efforts. 



^ 



Get an n~exten$iorf u from FreemanSoft 



GraphRight 
□RD 




Professional Charts 
and Graphs with a 
full featured API 




We speak 
your language 

Trillium 

TextToSpeech 



Redmark M marks up 

^pes of 
'.NEXTSTEP 



ocume 



v& 





FiscalDimension 

fromAXSYS 



^ 



Accounting for NEXTSTEP- 
Drganize your business and 
pur personal finances! 



MW01D Besf of greed Object ire Mm 

Share serial devices on your network 
with SerialPortKitm6 SeriaiPortServer. 

Create bar codes with BarCodeKit and 
Bar-a-Coda. Scan bar codes with 
BarCodeBox and Wand-a Bar, 



East ReDraw Precise 



w, 



■"■w-y^f---^^ 



rfV'f; 



■ 



Easy 
to use 



Powerful 



Imports EPS and Tiff files 



O 

z 




i 400+ ICONS 
il IMAGE VIEWER 

Eli 

gallery ICON GRABBER 

ICONS«ICONS«ICONS» 



:■ 



\netObjects 

TCP/IP Objects 

Zinpytech 



P 



&0 

'F-H 



< 

u 

< 

t 






Hew NEXTSTEP User? 

learn to navigate like a ^m 
p with Paget's easy, & ^J 
fteractive training app. 

]Paget DRIVER TRAINING 






lt's A in the 

Electronic AppWrapper 

shop from a CD-ROM catalog of good things for NExTSl±F tA users 

More products and information for NEXTSTEP 
than any other source— and at the best prices, too! 

More than 300 software applications, objects, fonts, clip art, music, 

training tools, many delivered directly from the CD-ROM. 

Four quarterly issues including CD-ROM and printed catalog. 

Only $48 per year in North America, $60 per year outside North America 

Call 1-800-733-2031 or fax (206) 448-2350 

Paget Press, Inc. • (206) 448-0845 • email info® page!, com 

Circle 26 on reader service card 






J/ISUS 



^ 



Presenting 

our FATted Products! 



.PaperSight 

powerful image management and personal productivity tool ! 




OCRExpress 

character recognition using Caere's award- winning engine! 



TouchSight 



^ 



ijitnm-nt£j xmnr poncflp until Tnnr>li Qprppnc nnrlpr XTF YHT V V h ' P I 



^ 



Safety Net™ for nextstep™ 

Powerful backup and archiving application 

• Fast, easy to use interface 

• Full or incremental backups 

• Drag-and-drop scheduling 

• Backup of remote NFS systems 

• On-line catalogs 

• Unlimited pathname length 

4 cube NeXTWORLD review rating 

Best of Breed winner! 



C 

H 

r 

>— i. 

H 

m 
c 

H 

■r 

H 

to 



SIM SON 000020 15 




IF YOU HAVE ALL 
THE TIME IN THE 
WORLD, THEN BY 



ALL MEANS, DO IT 
THE HARD WAY... 



...IF YOU DON'T, 
WHAT ARE YOU 

WAITING FOR? 



Your next step 

should be with Data General 

You've chosen NEXTSTEP* because you need to develop 
mission-critical applications fast. Time spent configuring PC 
hardware and software and wondering if your NEXTSTEP 
environment will work is wasted time. When you buy a sys- 
tem from Data General, you just plug it in and start develop- 
ing your critical applications immediately. 

Data General DASHER II-486DX2/66LE2 " PCs running 
NEXTSTEP for Intel processors, combined with the power 
and high availability features of our UNIX® system-based 
AViiOr? servers, give you not just high quality systems, but 
the full service and support of a company that knows 
client/server computing. After all, we've already spent our 
time creating the AViiON open systems servers ranked #1 in 
the recent Computerworld Buyers' Scorecard.* 

And, we have been a partner with NeXT Computer for over a 
year. We have the commitment, knowledge, and experience 
to ensure that you maximize the return on your investment 
in NEXTSTEP systems. 

So, if you don 't have all the time in the world, take a minute to 
call 1-800-DATA GEN and we'll tell you how easy Data 
General can make your next step. 



if Data General 

The Open Systems Experts 



'The CW Guide to Servers; Buyers' Scorecard," Computerworld. March 22, 1993. 

© 1993 Data General Corporation DASHER U-48SDX 2/66LE2 is a trademark and AViiON is a registered 
trademark of Data General Corporation. NeXTSTEP is a registered trademark ol NeXT Computer. Inc. 



SIM SON 000020 16 






VANISHING POINT 




ately, I've been reminded of the baling-wire mechanics I used 

to perform when I was still a rancher and got by on what I could 

cobble together from what was lying around. I've got a new 

computer. It's an Epson Progression, running NEXTSTEP for 

Intel, still a nonstandard configuration. 

It is the first PC I've laid a finger on since I sold my Compaq "Portable" 
back in 1988. If I squint and look directly at the screen, I can pretend that 
it's really a NeXT. It just (well, for the most pan) works. 

It didn't work at all when it arrived. I put the juice to it and watched 
those incredibly ugly DOS characters form 
on my screen: "Defective or nonsystem disk. 
Replace and strike any key when ready." 
Some things never change. 

I had no choice but to unbolt its tan 
steel box and take the matter into my own 
inexpert hands. Fortunately, it didn't require 
a wirehead to see that the SCSI controller 
board had rattled loose. I plugged it into a 
slot and, a couple of minutes later, I was 
looking at the fashionable hues of the 
Workspace Manager we've all come to know and love. 

Once booted, this combination of disparate items adds up to about 95 
percent of what you used to get from NeXT. The Wingine graphics board 
keeps the screen every bit as fresh as a NeXTstation Turbo does, but disk 
operations give the monitor a mild palsy and the screen dimmer doesn't work. 
There's a sound board, but apparently no driver for it. The machinations 
required to mount and unmount floppy disks are the very definition of a 
kludge. But it's very fast and it absolutely, positively does not crash. 

Of course, there now arises the question of what I will actually do with 
it. Unlike NEXTSTEPs of yore, NEXTSTEP for Intel doesn't arrive richly 
accessorized. (I'm writing this column in Edit, the word-processor equiva- 



Frontier 
Justice 



J O H N P E R R Y B A R L \V 



lent of a mattress on the floor.) 

Well, one thing I can do with it is store and search my 150MB e-mail 
archive. I set about connecting the Epson to my Mac network. I mail-ordered 
an Intel EtherExpress adapter card, which arrived with a disk of drivers for 
everything from NetWare to Vines, but not NEXTSTEP. Fortunately, NEXT- j 
STEP 3.1 came with a driver for that card, which I assumed would work. 

I've used IPT's estimable NEXTSTEP-to-Mac networking software, | 
uShare, to productive effect on my Cube, so I got a copy of the Intel ver- 
sion (which, with IPT's Partner, includes the ability to access AppleShare 

printers and networks). But, upon load- 
ing it, diplomatic relations between the 
Epson and my Macs weren't immediate. 
I called Intel support. No one there 
knew anything about using its board 
under NEXTSTEP. I called DPT and spoke 
with Rod David. He revealed that the 
product supports only one PC Ethernet 
board, the SMC Elite 16. But he had lore 
indicating that Intel boards might work if j 
you use Phase I Ethernet protocols. 
With his patient help and a lot of my own cobbling, I now have a two- 
way network that more or less works, though my main Mac is now crash- 
ing at the slightest provocation. There is no one who can help me tweak out 
this bug, since I am now evidently the leading local authority on this par- 
ticular mongrel combo. 

My first impression of NEXTSTEP for Intel is that it works and prob- 
ably can be made to work seamlessly, but I will have to be very resourceful 
until I have a few more neighbors out here on the beige frontier. $ 

John Perry Barlow puts his neck in a noose here each 
month. He can be reached at barlow@nextworld.com. 



Zoology Noteb 



ill 



NeXT Games 



by S c o t t Kim 

Outlines are a dynamic way to organize information on a computer. Note- 
Book, by Millennium Software Labs, takes the outline idea further by break- 
ing outlines into pages that are organized like a book. The first page of a 
notebook is a table of contents that lists all the sections and pages. Each item, 
or cell, on a page is marked with a circle, diamond, or other symbol. A page 
includes a section name, page name, page number, and one or more cells. 
For instance, Page 3 (shown at right) has the name Arnold, belongs in Apes, 
and has one cell. 

Contest 



A zookeeper has used NoteBook to keep 
track of apes, baboons, and chimps. Unfor- 
tunately, the pages have lost their numbers 
and section names.With the cryptic notes 
written on each page, can you help the 
zookeeper figure out which page is which? 
Write the name of each page in the table 
of contents at right. 

Up to ten lucky winners will receive a 
NeXTWORLD T-shirt. Address entries to 
Puzzle Editor, NeXTWORLD, 501 Sec- 
ond St., San Francisco, CA 94107. Or fax us at 415/978-3196. And while 
you're at it, write us a note about the magazine. Entries must be received 
by January 15, 1994. 

The answers to "It Takes All Sorts" in the November issue are: 23, 425 
523, 6524 or 6542, and 3426 or 3462. 

40 mmm JANUARY 1994 




SIMSON00002017 




Hierarchical Reports 



Create multi-level 
hierarchical reports of 
arbitrary complexity. 
Titles and labels can 
repeat on each level. 



Cross Tables 




Static Images 



Multi-directional data 
replication allows 
creation of cross tabular 
and other complex 
report sections. 



Custom Elements 



Build your own palettes 
of report display 
elements. Customize 
the look of your report. 



Growth 
Trial: / 

Subit 
1 
2 
3 
4 



Avg 

Growth S 
Trial: f 



Subii 
1 
2 
3 
4 
5 



Cell Regeneration Trial Report 
Sample NS-93 




Regrowth Codes 

A Full Regrowth 
B Partial Regeneration 
C Cell Acceptance 
D Cell Rejection 



Include logos, 

graphics, text and 

other static artwork 

in the report layout 

These will replicate as 

the report grows. 



Avg 

Growth S 
Trial 

Subi< 



Avg 
Confidential - £ 



Rotated Elements, too! 



Summary: NS-93 Accelerated 

Deptb(mm) 
Trial Start End A 



Days lA-Al 



1 7.16 

2 8,23 

3 7.52 

4 6.96 



6.16 
5.94 
6.26 
6.50 



1.00 
2.29 

1.24 
0.46 



27 4 0.24 

35.4 1.05 

32.2 0.00 

19.3 0.78 



4 1.24 Avg. Dev. 0.50 





Regrowth Distribution 


10 

8 

6 

4 

2 

0- 


1 


2 3 4 







— Notes — 

Tnis trial was extremely 
sucessful in showing the 
regenerative potential of 
Serum NS-93. We 
recommenO going to full 
human study as soon as 
possible. 



Complex Analytics 



Create formulas 

dependant on data or 

other calculations that 

are described earlier 

or later in the report 



Rich Text 



Confidential ■ Do Not Distribute 



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F e b r u a r y , V o I it tn e 4\ F s s it e 2 



Contents 



i 



Feature 



Grand Opening 18 

Behind the OpenStep door: An overview, implications, and an 
interview with an architect of the newest NEXTSTEP 

by Lee Sherman, Dan Lavin, Dan Ruby, 

and slms-on l. garfinkel-.. 



Reviews 



Charting Done Right 28 

Take your choice: CHaRTSMITH from BUCKSMITH, 

Grapbity from Xanthus, or GraphRightfrom Watershed 

Technologies 

by Seth Ross 



Coming op Age 30 

The latest rev of Metrosoft's MetroTools puts mature utilities 
on your desktop 

by Lee Sherman 



Data But No Base 30 

VNP Software offers bare-bones data connections 
with IX Adaptor 

by Sim son L. Garfinkel 



Box Scores 31 

NEXTSTEP for Intel offerings from Alpine Computing 
MicroAge and Lexar Systems 

by Dan Lavin 



Professional Color 32 

HERE'S Color from HERE finally puts color-management 
tools into the hands of the NEXTSTEP user 

by Rick Reynolds 



Fits Like a Glove 33 

Tailor from First Class is the classiest PostScript-editing 
tool around 

by S i m s o n L . Garfinkel 



Reviews Desk 34 



News 



NeXTWORLD Extra 13 

HP outlines PA-RISC future; Lighthouse goes for the full suite 



Community 



;■■ " ' ■ .■:■'■■ ■" . 



Real World: Managing Training 7 

How organizations find the best ways to bring their people 
up to speed on NEXTSTEP 

by Pali l Karon 

Black Gold 8 

PanCanadian Petroleum is using NEXTSTEP to tap into 
new wells of information 

by Eliot Berg son 

Commentary: Break the Mold 10 

There's enough room in the brave new world of NEXTSTEP 
32 for both SoftPCandnew offerings from ISVs 

by Ted Shelton 
Plus New in Shrinkwrap and On the Net 



Viewpoints 



The NeXT World 3 

Dan Ruby: The OpenStep deal brings NeXTs strategy into 

sharp relief 

Lip Service 4 

Readers' forum 

Developer Camp 28 

Simson Garfinkel thinks documentation is as important as code 

NeXT Ink 27 

Dan Lavin prods Solaris developers to get their NEXTSTEP 

code in gear 

Vanishing Point 40 

John Perry Barlow watches the sunrise 

NeXT Games 40 

Scott Kim gives a class in object-oriented programming 



Cover Photograph by Pierre-Yves Goavec 



SIMSON00002021 



HI 

Vol. 4, No. 2 FEBRUARY 1994 



President Gordon Haight 
Publisher Jearmine Barnard 
Editor in Chief Daniel Ruby 

EDITORIAL 

Managing Editor Eliot Bergson 

Senior Reviews Editor Dan Lavin 

Associate Designer Beth Kamoroff 

Assistant Editor Paul Curthoys 

Senior Contributing Editor Simson L Garfinkel 

Contributing Editors Joe Barello, John PeiTy Barlow, 

Tony Bove and Cheryl Rhodes, Ben Caliea, 

M Cariing, Daniel Miles Kehoe, Scott Kim, Robert Lauriston, 

Charles L. Perkins, Rick Reynolds, Seth Ross, 

Lee Sherman 

ART AND DESIGN 

Earl Office San Francisco, California 

PRODUCTION 

Director of Manufacturing Jayne Boyer 

Manufacturing Manager Hilal Sala 

Advertising Coordinator David Zink 



ADVERTISING SALES 

Associate Publisher Steve Frickc 

415/267-1784 

Western Sales Manager Laurie Eddy 

415/978-3188 

ADMINISTRATION 

Operations Manager Graciela Eulate 

Director of Information Services Kevin Greene 

1MJ Corporate Manager Bate! Libes 

CIRCULATION 

Circulation Manager Catherine Huchting 

Single Copy Sales Director George Clark 

Single Copy Sales Representative Marty Garcher 

Circulation Assistant Jason Paul Muscat 

IDG CORPORATE ADMINISTRATION 

Director of Finance Vicki Peilen 

Financial Analyst Madeleine Buckingham 

Accounting Manager Pat Murphy 



To reach NeXTWORLD by mail or courier, use this address: 

NeXTWORLD, 501 Second St., San Francisco, CA 9410?,. You 

can also contact NeXTWORLD via the Internet at 

nexrworld@nexnvorld.com, via MCI mail at NEXTWORLD, 

or via fax at 415/978-3196. 



NeXTWORLD is published monthly by Integrated Media, 501 

Second St., San Francisco, CA 94107, a subsidiary of IDG 

Communications, the world leader in information services on 

information technology. Basic subscription rate is S39.90 for 12 

monthly issues. Foreign orders must be prepaid in U.S. funds 
with additional postage. For Canada, add $15, All other foreign 

orders, add $40 for airmail and $15 for surface delivery. Fax 
415/442-1891 to charge VPSA/MC. For new subsaipdons or sub- 
scriber-service questions, call toll-free 800/685-3435: in Tennessee or 
from outside the U.S., call 615/377-3322; write P.O. Box 5038, 
Brentwood, TN 37024-9817: or e-mail subscrip@nexnvorld.com. 
Application to mail at Second Class postage rates pending at San 
Francisco and additional mailing offices. For permission to quote or 
reproduce editorial material from NeXTWORLD, send a written 
request stahng the issue date, article, page number(s), and exact 
text of the material to; Reprints and Permissions, NeXTWORLD 
Production, 501 Second St., San Ftancisco, CA 94107, 
For back issues of NeXTWORLD, write to: Back Issues, 
NeXTWORLD Ciiculation; S8 per issue; $18 per issue outside 
U.S. prepaid. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to 
NeXTWORLD, P.O. Box 5038, Brentwood, TN 37024-9817 or 
call 615/377-3322. Editorial and business offices: 501 Second St., 
San Francisco,CA 94107; 415/243-0600. NeXTWORLD is a pub- 
lication of Integrated Media. Printed in the United States of America. 
NeXTWORLD is a trademark of NeXT and is used under license. 
This publication is not affiliated with NeXT. 
Copyright © 1994 Integrated Media. All rights reserved. 
Canadian GST #124669433. 




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THE I E X T W 



L 



nn the past, we used to speak of computing platforms. A platform 
was a combination of processor architecture, operating system, 
and application environment (including the user interface). We 
had the Intel/DOS/Windows platform, the Motorola/Macintosh 
platform, and the SPARC/UMX/Motif platform, to name just a few. 

As a computer manufacturer, the trick was to get application develop- 
ers and end users to adopt your overall platform. 

Today, the coupling of interface to operating system and operating sys- 
tem to processor architecture has broken down. We're getting close to the 
time when any OS can run on almost any pro- 
cessor, and any GUI can sit on almost any OS. 

Guess what. The trick for computer com- 
panies is still to get application developers and 
end users to adopt their system. Only now, 
they don't care very much what the underly- 
ing hardware or operating system is. What 
matters is what sits on top - the application 
programming interfaces (APIs), or in SunSoft's 
parlance, the application environment. 

The OpenStep announcement makes it 
clear just what NeXT is selling - or, in this 
case, licensing. It turns out to be no different from what NeXT has always 
been selling: an environment for developing and using application software. 
As we now know, the NeXT hardware and even the operating-system ker- 
nel were extraneous pieces. NeXT's product is the various software inter- 
faces and tools that define the application environment. 

But application environments are a dime a dozen, starting with the 
five flavors of Windows. IBM supports three or four environments. Then 
there are all those different UNIX variants. 

The NEXTSTEP/OpenStep environment is different from most of the 
others because its primary application is software development. While it 



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also provides a home for end users to run commercial software, its differen- 
tiating factor is its object-oriented tools for developing custom applications. 
For SunSoft, OpenStep will be one of three supported application envi- 
ronments, along with the Common Desktop Environment (CDE), the UNIX 
standard for procedural applications; and Windows, which is supported 
under Solaris through SunSoft's WABI technology. In the interview in this 
issue, SunSoft's Bud Tribble says he expects Solaris users to gradually migrate 
to OpenStep over a period of years. Other potential OpenStep supporters, 
such as Hewlett-Packard, also envision a gradual transition. 

For those of us who have already recog- 
nized the benefits of NEXTSTEP, such a time- 
table seems unreasonably slow. But large user 
sites with big investments in legacy software 
cannot turn on a dime. 

What they can and will do now is begin 
pilot projects and long-term evaluations. The 
important thing is that a direction has been 
set for them. They now have a road map 
that allows them to plan future systems and 
begin plotting a strategy. 

Although NeXT and its third-party soft- 
ware and services providers won't see an immediate surge in sales, a corner has 
certainly been turned. The broad market will now look upon NEXTSTEP as an 
environment whose time will come, not a platform whose time has passed. 

In terms of market psychology', that's a very big difference. Between the 
earlier HP deal on Object'Enterprise and the Sun deal on OpenStep, there 
is little doubt that a bandwagon is beginning to roll. The trick now for NeXT 
is to keep the momentum going by signing up more partners to endorse 
the OpenStep environmental movement. $ 

Dan R u b y is NeXTWORLD s editor in chief. 



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LETTERS 



Dangerous curves along 
The One True Way 

I feel compelled to reply to Dan Ruby's 
column ("Shirts Off Their Backs," 
NeXTWORLD, December 1993), in 
which he paints a picture of "strategic 
mistakes" and failure for RightBrain 
Software and Appsoft, and ends with 
epitaphs. I won't speak for Appsoft, 
but I would like to respond for Right- 
Brain. 

Ruby points out that, after NeXT 
shifted its strategy, developers needed 
to "rethink their business model or 
slowly wither on the vine," and later, 
that newer developers were "prepared 
to go where NeXT led them." Wher- 
ever that might be. The road of NeXFs 
history is littered with abandoned mar- 
keting plans, major changes in cor- 
porate strategy, large numbers of 
personnel changes, and sudden sur- 
prises - from dropping optical disks 
to laying off hundreds of people to an- 
nouncing new alliances every six 
months or so. 

Ruby makes the presumption that 
developers are only interested in the 
NEXTSTEP platform itself, and that 
they will (and should) adapt in what- 
ever way necessary to the vagaries of 
the platform. This misses the point. 
RightBrain Software developed soft- 
ware for people, for users. We are not 
technology' junkies. It is ridiculous to 
assume that the correct thing to do is 
follow all of the twists in the NeXT 
highway system because it is the One 
True Way. 

It is perhaps true that we could 
have "adapted" to NeXT's new focus, 
but that sort of assumes that all we 
really want to do is to program NEXT- 
STEP and that we'll blindly follow 
wherever the path leads. Ruby writes 
that 1 "stubbornly stuck to the main- 
stream vision until reality forced [me] 
to pull the plug." Well, what I really 
did was to try to finish what I started, 
to deliver PasteUp, fix the bugs, sup- 
port my customers, and develop new 
products. It is true that we pulled the 
plug because of reality, but that real- 
ity wasn't forced on us - it was a choice. 

We were still seeing strong sales 
of PasteUp the day we ceased opera- 
tions, and, if that were not the case, I 
seriously doubt that Anderson Finan- 
cial would have acquired PasteUp. It 



wasn't clear to me that the NeXT mar- 
ket had made any progress in the three 
years I had been involved in it, and I 
wasn't interested in finding out the hard 
way. If my goal in life were to program 
NEXTSTEP, then sure, I could have 
survived spotty sales and paid bills by 
doing contract programming for a bank 
or developing mission-critical Object- 
Ware for the CIA. But that was never 
my goal. 

Nor is it Software Ventures' goal 
nor Adobe's, nor WordPerfect's, nor 
Frame Technology's, nor Lotus's, nor 
any of the many developers who have 
made brief appearances in the Product 
Catalog over the years. 

It is difficult enough to plot NeXT's 
path looking backwards through time, 
and I submit that it's impossible to chart 
it into the future. NeXT 
doesn't even know 
where it's going, and 
when it does know, it 
always springs it on the 
rest of us as a series 
of surprises, some of 
which are extremely 
difficult to adapt to 
quickly (like the demise 
of its hardware line). 
My crystal ball was 
filled with tule fog like 
the Central Valley of 
California, and I de- 
cided to pull off the 1-5 
to avoid the possibility 
ofalQO-carpileup(ro 
stretch the analogy a 
bit). 

I also found it 
amusing to read that 
"both companies will 
miss the coming wave 
of third-party software sales." This 
wave has been coming for several years 
now. I think it's just rhetoric. If you 
look at the measurable phenomena, you 
can see a large efflux of high-visibility 
developers, an influx of small unknown 
developers, and, on the good side, an 
increase in the installed base. Of course, 
we don't know exactly what the in- 
crease is, only that it "exceeds expec- 
tations." And we don't know what 
percentage of the installed base will be 
buying third-party applications. It's 
all theoretical: "It's gonna be great," 
with the emphasis on "gonna." 

I don't know whether the NEXT- 
STEP software market will increase, 
and neither does Ruby. I chose to get 
involved in something more predictable, 



more rewarding, and less of a roller 
coaster. Currently, I am developing 
publishing software for Windows and 
the Macintosh, and I was very sur- 
prised to find that I can produce work- 
ing software very rapidly. NEXTSTEP 
is great, but you know what? It's not 
that much better than the Mac. Besides, 
even if NeXT realizes its goal of 
100,000 units in 1994, that will still 
be 100 times smaller than the Mac 
market, and 500 times smaller than 
the Windows market. 

NeXTWORLD might recall that, 
for many months, the number-one 
position on its own Ten Most Wanted 
list was a page-layout program like 
QuarkXPress. That is what I set out 
to deliver. It took only about two years, 
which is pretty quick development for 
a product like that, 
but, by the time we 
finished, the market 
had completely 
changed, and pub- 
lishing was not a part 
of it any more. And 
now I pick up NeXT- 
WORLD only to 
read my own epitaph 
(which I can assure 
you is premature), 
and to read that the 
reason we are among 
the "dearly departed" 
is that we did what 
you thought we 
should have done a 
couple of years ago, 
namely develop a 
shrmkwrapped page- 
layout application. 
In summary, you 
paint a picture in 
which we made a lot of strategic mis- 
takes and stubbornly refused to accept 
the changing market. I'll concede that 
we didn't accept the changing market, 
but it wasn't stubbornness: It was good 
business sense. When NEXTSTEP soft- 
ware development grows from a reli- 
gious passion to a smart business pur- 
suit, maybe you'll see some of us again. 
Meanwhile, I'll be thumbing through 
the pages of Inside Macintosh and 
spending more time with my dogs. 

Glenn Reid 
RightBrain Software 
Woodside, California 




Shame on whom? 

I hope Randy Adams and Glenn 
Reid understand that the shame of 
Dan Ruby's December editorial is 
on Mr. Ruby himself, not them. 

John Link 
Kalamazoo, Michigan 

API SOS 

When I saw NEXTSTEP and started 
using the programming tools, I 
thought, "This is how I want to pro- 
gram." When I read that APIs are not 
standard on most NEXTSTEP soft- 
ware, I thought, "What is the point 
object-oriented software if you don't 
pass on the benefits to the user?" I am 
one of those customers who, as Sim- 
son Garfinkel described in "Good 
Morning, Sarajevo!" {NeXTWORLD, 
November 1993), "aren't even con- 
sidering your programs, because they 
can't see how to mold it into the cor- 
porate future they're building." But 
note that in your reviews, you don't 
mention if programs have a well-doc- 
umented API. A good API is one of 
the most important things for me when 
looking at what software to buy for 
NEXTSTEP. This applies to all appli- 
cations, from project managers to 
games. So for Ten Most Wanted - 
well-documented APIs in applications, 

Grant Morgan 
Tokyo 

That's two Scotts and 
Two Duanes 

Thanks for the mention in the "Three 
Scotts and a Duane" article in the 
December issue. It gave me a warm 
fuzzy feeling, but . . . Scott is my mid- 
dle name. My first name is Duane. 
So perhaps I suffer under a double- 
whammy in the comp.sys. next news- 
groups! 

Scott Hess 
Burnsville, Minnesota 

Editorial direction 

I'd like to add a voice to the contingent 
that thinks NeXTWORLD should 
be more careful with negative press. 
There are several potential customers 



Page 6 






4 NIXrWOBLD FEBRUARY 1994 




SIM SON 00002024 



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LETTERS 



1 Lip Service 

for whom I would just buy a subscrip- 
tion to NeXTWORLD; I instead find 
myself forced to edit the material, or 
worse, not use it at all. Is it that im- 
portant to thump your chest and say 
you're relatively impartial? At this 
stage, 1 would think the role of advo- 
cate would be far more important. 

Alan Frabutt 
Dearborn, Michigan 

If we confined ourselves to happy 
talk, we would lose credibility with 
our readers. NeXTWORLD makes 
no bones about being partisan to- 
wards NEXTSTEP, but we are not 
a marketing arm of NeXT. We aim 
to serve our readership by covering 
the challenges, as well as the benefits, 
of using NEXTSTEP. -NW 

Barlow reads minds! 

I read with great amazement John 
Perry Barlow's recent columns ("Homer 
on the Range," NeXTWORLD, No- 
vember 1993, and "NeXT and the 
Single Guy," NeXTWORLD, De- 
cember 1993). In some weird way, 
he captured some of my deepest feel- 
ings. He came so close, in fact, to my 



inner thoughts that I began to won- 
der if we were the same person - but 
then I remembered that I don't own 
a smoke shovel. If by some chance he 
wrote those columns to be directed 
toward a statisncal/sociologicai approx- 
imation of the average NeXThead, 
please don't tell me: I shudder to think 
I might be average. 

Christopher Nagel 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 

For the record 

The DiskMaker review on page 38 
of the December 1993 issue sports 
an incomplete e-mail address. You 
can contact SmartSoft either at smart- 
soft@parsec.mixcom.com or info® 
smartsoft.com. 

HeXTWGRLB welcomes your comments. 
Please mail them to Letters at NeXT- 
WOm, 501 Second St, San Francisco, 
CA 94107, or e-mail them to letters® 
nextworld.com. 




Evolution of a NEXTSTEP Project 

i 

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How cuitumeii_eyalu_afc. develop, and deploy 





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Managing Training 

The great thing about introducing programmers to NEXTSTEP is 
that its style of object-oriented programming is such a fresh and powerful 
departure from traditional computing environments. Of course, that's the 
main difficulty as well. 

"People always hear that once you learn the NEXTSTEP programming 
environment, you're able to build applications more quickly and efficiently 
than in other environments," says David Besemer, principal of Besemer 8c 
Associates, a NeXT certified training partner in Boulder, Colorado. "But 
what isn't always said is that the learning curve to get to the point where 
you're building programs is very steep. It's a rich environment. There's a lot 
to learn" 

"Our developers had strong Cobol skills, limited C background, and 
virtually no background in object-oriented techniques," says Don Winn, a 
senior analyst who coordinates information-technology training at Pan- 
Canadian Petroleum in Calgary, Alberta. Under NEXTSTEP, "they felt like 
they went from being expert Cobol programmers to suddenly not know- 
ing anything." 

The NEXTSTEP learning process can take as long as two or three years 
before substantial results start to become evident, according to an estimate 
by the director of training at a major NEXTSTEP shop. 

"I've seen customers disabled because they didn't get sufficient train- 
ing - not in NEXTSTEP, but in object-oriented techniques," says Jan Tyler, 
head of services marketing for NeXT. "Customers have to be made to real- 
ize that it requires education to get the full benefits of object programming." 

NeXT realized this early on when it opened its first Dev Camp, the five- 
day course it runs at its facilities in Chicago and Redwood City. At $1800 
a head, the company provides instruction tracks geared toward various 
student populations - end users, application programmers, system admin- 
istrators, and NeXT technical-marketing partners. For organizations that 
want to train a lot of people, NeXT will set up a private, on-site Dev Camp 
for $15,000. 

In June of last year, NeXT introduced its mentorship program, which 
is similar to programs created by third-party consultants. Approaches vary, 
but the basic tenet of mentoring is to replace book learning with hands-on, 
guided apprenticeships. "You really won't be successful until you have at 
least two object-oriented development efforts under your belt," says Joe 
Ortiz, product marketing manager for Pencom Software, an Austin, Texas- 
based NEXTSTEP training partner. "There's a difference between reading 
articles and actually doing it." 

NeXT's new mentoring programs are tailored to cleave closely to the 
application needs of the customer's organization. After closely studying 
these needs, NeXT crafts courses and exercises that will generate at least a 
portion of the prototype of the real app. NeXT consultant-teachers are avail- 
able at the site for 25 to 30 days during a 10- to 14-week period, accord- 
ing to Tyler. If this mentoring program sounds good, it ought to: NeXT 
charges $100,000 for it. 

Whether you're interested in a mentoring arrangement or more stan- 
dard classroom instruction, NeXT itself is not the only option. To ensure 
high-quality training from third-party providers, NeXT has established a 
network of Certified Training Partners across Europe and North America. 
Many offer both on-site and off-site training arrangements. 




r ld 

p OTP 



Ajtei' 



0ft 



L<> w 



But the 

instruction that NeXT and its training partners offer won't do for every- 
one. Some organizations have chosen to develop their own curriculum. 
One of the most elaborate in-house training programs in the NEXTSTEP 
world is going in Winn's training department at PanCanadian. 

When the company's IS managers sat down to design a NEXTSTEP 
curriculum more than a year ago, Winn and his colleagues came up with a 
long list of criteria - goals they wouldn't have been able to achieve if they'd 
used third-party trainers or sent their people to NeXT's Dev Camp. For 
example, they wanted to bring their programmers, user customers, and sys- 
tem administrators along quickly, but with a proper introduction to the 
concepts of object environments, 

Also, they wanted a system of modular courses that would provide 
breaks, during which programmers would apply the concepts they'd 
learned, before returning for subsequent, more advanced course modules. 

But most importantly, PanCanadian wanted ownership of its training 
process - again, something that would have been difficult or impossible if it 
had brought in third-party trainers or gone to NeXT. 

Since the courses were developed by PanCanadian's IS department, the 
firm had the freedom to design course work that was relevant to the com- 
pany's specific business needs. "That way, the training took on a whole 
different level of relevance," says Winn. 

For the first year or two of its entrance into the NEXTSTEP world, Swiss 
Bank Corporation (SBC) brought in many outside consultants to teach classes 
for developers and sent many programmers to Dev Camp, according to Joe 
Troccolo, director of the education department at the Chicago-based finan- 
cial trader. But now, with a critical mass of in-house expertise, the firm relies 
more on a kind of grass-roots approach to transmitting NEXTSTEP knowl- 
edge to new hires. "New people are pretty much trained right in the depart- 
ment," Troccolo says. 

Most trainers also face the task of instructing nonprogramming end users. 
The hard part for SBC was finding the best time to deliver instruction to 
traders and others who are tied to market hours. So SBC made videotapes 
that provide instruction in some basic NEXTSTEP applications - Wingz, 
NeXTmaii, WordPerfect - that the traders could watch after trading hours. 

Training managers like Winn and Troccolo recognize that one of the de- 
fining characteristics of working with NEXTSTEP is that the first two years 
of a firm's experience with it are a critical time. Programmers, administra- 
tors, and users aren't just getting an introduction to NEXTSTEP; the entire 
organization is getting introduced to NEXTSTEP and object-oriented pro- 
gramming. Like individual people, companies and systems learn and, evolve, 
and managing that evolution is an important part of the trainer's job. $ 

by P a u l Karon 

Real World is a continuing series that looks at the nuts-and-bolts issues of 
implementing NEXTSTEP solutions in large organizations. 





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Black Gold 



Energy customer 



Companies moving to NEXTSTEP have a lot of cations: a management system for gas mar- 
ground to cover, but maybe none more than keters; software to catalog and study poter? 
PanCanadian Petroleum, the second-largest oil tial drilling areas; a gas-allocation application; 
and gas producer north of the U.S. border, a package to analyze fluid corrosiveness; a sec- 
Accordingto Stephen Wyatt, manager of infer- ond gas-marketing app; and a system for cat- 
mation systems, "we're a manufacturing com- aloging "best practices" metrics about 
pany witha production floor of 500,000 square successful methods used in various protects, 
miles." That's an area larger than Montana, This last package is significant for imprav- 
Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado combined, ing the information flow between field workers 
PanCanadian has close to 1400 employ- and headquarters. "Field people have trad 
ees and 400 consultants spread among its Cal- tionaily been guys in overalls who carry wrencte 
gary, Alberto, headquarters and seven regional to open and close taps and repair equipment 
officesm Alberta and Saskatchewan. Wrth almost We wantthemto have an understanding of fa 
400 of those workers responsible for covering business implications of what they do. They 
huge territories, "their truck is really their drive the cost of a barrel out of the ground; 
office," says Roger Goates, coordinator of tech- says VVyatt. 
nelogy management The firm needed to find By coordinating production and business 
ways to improve information flow, but simple information, field supervisors can more effec- 
networking wasn't the answer. ttvely schedule workers, operate or shut down 



PanCanadian 
users and the IS staff 
met last year and 
put together a SITE 
(Strategic Informa- 
tion Technology Ex- 
pectations) study. 
The report identified 
30 software appli- 
cations that are 
important to Pan- 
Canadian's contin- 
ued technological 
growth, but it also 
emphasized NEXT- 
STEP'S ability to 
change the way peo- 
ple work. "We need- 




wells, and perfora 
plant maintenance 

Currently, fiel 
workers send and 
receive informati 
over Tl lines from 
district offices tt 
headquarters, whk 
has been wired wit 
a fiber-optic back- 
bone. PanCanaise 
is evaluating NEXT- 
STEP laptops for 
future deployment 

The success and 
executive support of 
thenewdeveSopmd 
efforts have sol idled 



PanCanadian uses NEXTSTEP to pump 
information from the field to headquarters, 

ed to integrate irnormaiion from various sources, the company programmers' break with wring 

so our focus has been aimed at assisting pro- code tor PanCanadian's old IBM 3090 main- 

fessionals to be more productive, rather than frame, which relied on IDMS and CISC-CoboL 

automating clerical work," Coates says. "When you have to face objects, you have fe 

VVlth an estimated five-year development think differently, and you wind up with an event- 
cycle for the applications, Coates explains, the drfven, cfieiit-server e<)vilt>i1l11el1t r , ' Coates say& 
IS staff was looking for a development envi- A significant part of that environment has 
ronment that "had legs and would be current been the firm's 80 Sun SPARCstatbns. "Sun 
when we finished." They settled on NEXTSTEP just about owns the technical-application 
because Ofejective-C has "the horsepower to ket in this industry," Coates says. The 
handle difficult problems" and purchased 65 ber announcement between Sun and NeXT 
black boxes. PanCanadian currently has almost allow PanCanadian to integrate the techni 
100 black and white NEXTSTEP machines (hav- side of its business into the SITE plans, 
ing settled on the Compaq Deskpro 66M Intel "We use a lot of third-parly apps for 
box after evaluating several offerings) and plans mic interpretation and reservoir simiii 
to deploy 500 seats by the end of this year. Those kinds of apps are very compute-i 

With support from company executives, sive, and the algorithms are very special 

especially new CEO David O'Brien, the IS team so we have to buy a lot of these kinds of a 

has deployed or is finishing up its first six appSt- cations. We'll be encouraging vendors to 



8 mmm FEBRUARY 1994 



Photograph by FPG limm 



SIMSON00002030 



■ 




M 1 D N I T y 



New in Shrinkwrap 



November 1 to December 1 



Database and Information 
Management 

Gramty 1,0 

Charring application for business 

Questor 2.0 

Update of spreadsheet app 

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Driver for Hewlett-Packard DeskJet and 

User Jet printers 
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Utilities 



Mathlmatka 2.2 

Upgrade for NEXTSTEP for Intel 

Wolfram Research 

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A Chinese environment for NEXTSTEP for Intel 

Object Rain Corporation 

886/2/369-5121 

Objects, Palettes, andKits 



Dolphfn Kit Object Limary 3.2 

Fat-binary set of classes for application building 

Dolphin Technologies 

310/441-9021 

Peripherals 



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Scanner software for the Canon CJ10 scanner 

EXTRAPRINTCJtO 

Printer software for Canon CJ10 color printer 

GS Corporation 

415/257-4700 



FSPREFERFNCFi 1.0 

Fat-binary set of utility modules added to 

Preferences 
PastboardVlNue 1.2 
Creates multiple shelves for storing pasteboard 

information 
FreemanSoft 
919/783-7033 

MetroToo(,s2.1 
Update of utilities bundle 
Merrosoft 
619/488-9411 

Fat-binary collection of utilities, games, general- 
productivity apps, graphics, and fonts 
Walnut Creek CD-ROM 
510/947-5996 

Tar Viewer 1.0 
Utility for browsing tar files 
Dolphin Technologies 
310/441-9021 

TimeSync 3.0 

Fat-binary utility for synchronizing system clocks 

BenaTrmg 

614/276-7859 



lUUSTRAflONHVGuRWiNSimi-i!' 

their apps to a Sun-based OpenStep environ- 
ment," Coates says. 

Even though the announcement was unex- 
pected, the IS staff had been planning for it by 
focusing development efforts over the last year 
on building an "object infrastructure/' Coates 
explains. If the SHE plan had merely relied on 
mission-critical custom-application develop- 
ment, integrating the Solaris-based technical 
side of the business, even with an OpenStep 
backbone, would have been difficult. 

The idea was to take advantage of what 
lies behind NEXTSTEP, rather than just the 
development environment "Our approach to 
implementation is to drive for reuse by build- 
ing object libraries. In parallel with the six 
appScatkms, we're building libraries of reusable 
parts of the apps," Coates says. This will bring 



PanCanadian's geologists and other scientists 
into the same operational systems with accoun- 
tants, managers, and field workers. 

"Communication is a serious issue," 
Coates explains. When organizations deploy 
NEXTSTEP, the success or failure hinges on 
realizing that they are deploying more than 
just software or hardware - they are imple- 
menting a new technology, with new ideas 
that can cover a lot of ground. "The appli- 
cations people needed to work better made 
them think differently," Coates says. "And 
it turned out that everybody wants to use 
the new tools." ^ 



*K Eliot Bergson 





Uiiipen 

eiAtlieapptieiito 
perform on-the-Hy color corre<:fjon. TMj < 

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929 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., C342 
Kentfleld, CA 94904 USA 

415.257.4700 

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SIMSON00002031 









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415,257.4700 



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Break the Mold 



l M M- EN T ,UI 





Wliiie native NEXTSTEP applications remain important to NeXTs large corporate customers, 
the playing field for NEXTSTEP ISVs (independent software vendors) has clearly changed 
now that Insignia Solutions 5 SoftPC provides a viable solution for running standard commer- 
cial applications under Windows. With this change in the market, ISVs must reexamine strate- 
gies that may have been successful in the world of NeXT proprietary hardware but may no 
longer be successful in the larger NEXTSTEP for Intel world or in the future OpenStep world. 
When my company, Information Technology Solutions (ITS), started developing NEXT- 
STEP software in 1991, we saw an opportunity in the black-hardware market to provide 
basic productivity applications, which are commonly available in the PC and Windows world, 
as native NeXT applications. This strategy worked out well, allowing us to ship several use- 
ful (though not groundbreaking) commercial applications in 1992 and 1993. Now, instead 
of buying ITS's simple information organizer for NEXTSTEP, NeXT customers may rush 
out and buy some Windows application and use it under SoftPC. 

Some NEXTSTEP ISVs are worried about the competition for customer dollars that will 
come from Windows applications. Instead, we look at the availability of these mainstream 
commercial applications as being absolutely critical to the success of our company - because 

their availability is crucial to the success of NEXT- 
STEP. But how do we turn this potential threat into an 
opportunity? 

Instead of viewing itself as a provider of useful 
productivity applications in a small market niche, a 
NEXTSTEP ISV must provide breakthrough ideas in 
software design, software packaging, and the concept 
of what makes up a commercial software package. NEXT- 
STEP software must differentiate itself from the pack 
by leading the entire software industry in a new direction, 
rather than by adding a few bells and whisdes. 

SoftPC has often been thought of as providing 
access to legacy applications, providing companies 
with a method for transitioning from Windows-based 
environments to NEXTSTEP-based environments. But 
ITS President and CEO Ted Shellon the term fe W mea ™ "something from the past." It 

emphasizes an old paradigm for commercial software 
SoftPC will allow NEXTSTEP to gain a wider acceptance in Fortune. 1000 companies 
precisely because these companies will be able to use their existing commercial productivity 
applications. But companies will not want to simply run the same applications in a native 
NEXTSTEP environment without having to use native NEXTSTEP versions. The next rev- 
olution in commercial software will occur as developers move away from an application- 
centric model of software toward an object-centric model. And here NEXTSTEP ISVs mu: 
lead the way. 

Think about it. Why should I be constrained to using one application's drawing tools, 
another application's painting tools, a third application's writing tools, and then have to paste : 
the results together (in a fourth application!) to send these components to a colleague? This 
is the old application-centric model of commercial applications. Instead, using an object-ecu 
trie model for commercial software, I should be. able to use ail of these tools on the same 
document, which could then be sent directly via e-mail. ISVs need to strip down their ap 
cations into object libraries that other developers, and even end users, can put together 
any way they want. 

Native NEXTSTEP applications can no longer simply be useful duplicates of applica- 
tions already available under Windows. In the future, ISVs will have to clearly differentiate 
their products from standard Windows applications. Here are a few ways to do this: 

• Network workgroup applications. Use the power of NEXTSTEP and UNIX to extend ] 
your applications to allow groups to communicate better; UNIX excels over DOS in this area. 
And make sure your solutions are scalable so that hundreds, or even thousands, of users can 
make use of the applications. 



10 Mm* FEBRUARY 1994 



LAPHBYiUUFN HlSSCil 



SIMSON00002032 



c g 11 n ii h i t v 



Cogito, Ergo Sun 

On the Net 

The sun also rises. Traffic centered around 
the Sun/NeXT alliance. One bird crowed 
(much too coyly) prior to the announcement; 
others in the know (and craving less attention, 
perhaps?) honored both spirit and letter of 
their nondisclosure agreements. Post-announce- 
ment speculation ran rampant: Was this "another 
desperate move" on NeXT's part, or a brilliant 
coup and resounding vindication of Steve's 
vision? Regardless, much consolation from the 
mere image of Scott McNealy wearing The 
Steve Outfit and holding a cube sporting the 
NeXT logo (with nary a sharp spike anywhere 
near his eyes). 

What's it all about, Alfie? Major questions re- 
mained unanswered. Will OpenStep include 
all of the development tools of NEXTSTEP? 
Will OpenStep run as a layer on top of X? If 
so, how will it handle Display PostScript? Or 
will X simply be supported under OpenStep, 
as it is now under NEXTSTEP? Will OpenStep 
include drag-and-drop objects? Ultimate ques- 
tion: From a user's perspective, what difference 
will there be between running native NEXT- 
STEP on a SPARC and running the OpenStep 
version of Solaris? 

Most agreed that OpenStep will benefit 
from Solaris's "industry-strength kernel," and 
that the publication of an open spec will lead 
to much greater acceptance of NEXTSTEP 
technology, taking it out of a "niche market" 
classification. To ensure success, NeXT's most 
critical task is to exhaustively document the 
OpenStep spec within the announced time frame 
(by June). 

Speculation and suggestions for other ports 
ran toward, "Do this one! No, no, do this 



one!" Cooler heads suggested that NeXT 
has plenty of work for its (newly lean) staff 
to handle, and that getting a solid HP PA- 
RISC port out the door is critical, if only to 
establish credibility: "We don't need a list 
of '"promised* platforms for NEXTSTEP, 
we need a list of * shipping* platforms for NS." 

Now is the winter of our discontent ... The 

profound changes that the Sun alliance por- 
tends brought out a metaphysical streak in 
many posters. In various threads, the relative 
merits of NEXTSTEP, Motif, Mach, and Win- 
dows (and TECO) were debated. Some posters 
power shifted from bashing Intel hardware 
to bashing Sun hardware; the thread then 
evolved into debate re: merits of straight CPU 
benchmarking. Much discussion of what plat- 
form was (or would be) most preferred by- 
posters' mothers for writing doctoral theses. 

We happy few, we hand of brothers. "Will 

Mark Crispin ever be cheerful?" gets the Sub- 
ject Line Sez It All prize for the month. All 
you doom-and-gloomers out there, take heart. 
Remember, on St. Crispin's Day in 1415, Henry 
V defeated the French at Agincourt, success- 
fully using superior technology (the English 
longbow) against a vastly larger enemy force. 
Balanced against the doomsayers were 
the courageous souls who sought information 
re: how to buy NeXT stock. (It can be had 
from employees current or former, but NeXT 
has right of first refusal.) 

We miss you, Conrad. NeXT community 
members, some accustomed to receiving an 
average of three messages per week from 
Conrad, bemoaned the deafening silence ema- 
nating from Redwood City. $ 



fey Steve Fricke 



• Object libraries. Provide object libraries with your applications to allow corporate cus- 
tomers to reuse your software in their own internal applications. Mission-critical applications 
will continue to be part of the competitive advantage that companies buying NEXTSTEP will 
enjoy. Make your products part of this successful strategy. 

• Introduce new ideas and push the envebpe. Give your customers "insanely great" applica- 
tions. NEXTSTEP can be a showcase for new ways of working. It is important, though, to lis- 
ten closely to your customers. New ideas sometimes need refinement before you get them right, 
and NEXTSTEP customers can be a good sounding board for refining ideas before seeking a 
wider market on other platforms. 

The "enterprise desktop" that NEXTSTEP aspires to deliver to corporate customers will 
be a mix of commercial Windows applications, custom mission-critical applications, and 
NeXT-generation commercial applications that deliver competitive advantages, help transform 
business processes, and make using computers a joyful experience. NEXTSTEP ISVs have a 
terrific opportunity to help NeXT deliver this vision - if we can rise to the challenge of deliver- 
ing better applications than DOS and Windows software vendors can deliver. I think we 
can.£ 

Ted Sheltonk president and CEO of Information Technology Solutions, a Chicago- 
bused company delivering NEXTSTEP solutions to the financial-services community. 



: I ■ 



t 






faster priatiftf than a 
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quality 8,raphkstrtari 5 M? 
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eXTMPRINT, connect your 
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worry abt-t dowrittMf 
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Versions of eXTMPRINT ar« 
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929 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., C342 
Kentfield, CA 94904 USA 

415,257.4700 



Circle 30 nn renAar caruSra #>«»J 

SIMSON00002033 



Alembic Systems International Ltd. 

We service the customers 
who have already made the 

choice. 



We call it "customer focused" service. But it is more than that. It's 
the first enterprise-wide software and hardware company dedicated 
to providing complete computer solutions — based exclusively around 
NEXTSTEP. It's one place for you to call and reach a staff of 
trained, caring people who will answer your questions, listen to 
your comments, and support your needs with years of experience 
in NEXTSTEP. 

Software from The U.S., 
France, Australia, 
Germany, China, Italy, 
Sweden, and all points 
in between can be found 
at Alembic. One of our 
primary goals is to offer 
the NEXTSTEP user a 
place to find a rich 
variety of software (If you 
don't see something you're 
looking for, call, we probably 
have it or can find it for you.) 
from some of the best 
software developers in 
the world. We invite you 
to sample demonstration 
versions of our 
software — individually, 
or pre- installed on one 
of the Alembic hardware 
systems. Turn on the 
machine and they're 
ready to go. 



Software 

(ASI offers the largest selection of NEXTSTEP 
software in North America and Europe.) 

AquaNet • Assistant • Assistant Plus • Bar-a-Coda 

• BarCode Box • Bar CodeKit • Black Box • Celebro 

• CHaRTSMITH • CHINAware • Compose in Color 

• Concurrence • Connect It! • Craftman • Create • 
CubX-Window • Run Time • DataPhile • DBInspector 

• Diagram! • direct • Dots • Electro • Engage! Desktop 

• EquationBuilder • Forms Palette • FrequentPh rases 

• FrontDesk • FTI/DOE • FTI/SWMM • Graphity • 
Image Agent • Image Mate • intuitiv3d • Engine • 
i56 w/DSP & Sound Board • Keyboard Server • 
LaserMan • Manual Builder • Mathemafica • Mesa 

• MetroForms • MetroKeys • MetroTools » mix • 
Netlnfo • NetWatch • nice • NoteBook • OCR 
Software • Pages • Pixel Magician • Questor ♦ Retina 

• ScanTastic • ScreenCast • 
Screen Machine II • 
SerialPortKit • SerialPortServer 

• SimonSays • Simulation Kit 

• SNMP Agent • SoftPC • 
solidThinking Modeler • 
solidThinking Animator • 
SplitBuilder • Squash • Sunrise 

• Tailor • TaskMaster • TextArt 

• tice • Typing Czar • 
VarioData • VarioDataPro • 
VlrtSpace • Virtuoso • Wand- 
a-Bar • WetPaint • Wonderful 
Mosaic • ZZVolume • 3D Reality and more 



Hardware combinations are numerous and readily avaikl 
at Alembic. From the beginner to the most advanced, ALL systei 
options are running NEXTSTEP 3.2 from the time you turn on 
the computer, unless you prefer otherwise. Alembic offers a numb 
of service and support options and a 2-year warranty on ever)' 
system. We can even custom configure systems for those with 
extra-demanding taste. 

For a complete listing of all the products Alembic represent! 
call 1.800.452.7609. One of our representatives will take care of I 
any questions you may have about current specials, hardware 
configurations, upcoming events, and, of course, NEXTSTEP. 

— Akmbk Systems International 



Hardware 

(NEXTSTEP 3.2 Pre-installed) 




NEXTSTEP 




(CALL FOR A FULL LISTING OF SOFTWARE AVAILABLE.) 



Intel 486 DX2/66 Processor • 256KB Write-Back Cache • 2 VESA 

Local Bus Slots • 6 EISA Slots • Up to 128 MB of RAM • 250, 340, 

540, or 1.2 GB Hard Drives • ATI Graphics Ultra Pro Video Card «// 2 

MB VRAM (I I20X332@I 6-rjft wl rev. 6 card) • 17" H$i Resolution 

Color Monitor • Adaptec 1542C SCSI Card ° • 3 1/2" Fbppy Drive • 2 

Serial, I Parallel Port • 101 Keyboard and • Logitech Bus xMouse • 



Alembic Systems International Ltd. 

1.800.452.7608 
info@alembic.com 



303.799.6223 



Circle 27 on reader service card 




SIMSON00002034 




NEWS 



Black & White Software is now 

shipping NXFax 1.04. Along 
with the addition of NEXTSTEP ! 
for Intel functionality, the Best 
of Breed award-winning fax- 
data software now also supports 
more modems. NXFax costs 
$135; complete modem and 
software packages start at $470. 
Black &c White: 802/496-8500; 
nxfax@bandw.com. 

Zion Software and Consulting in 
December released TeleComm 
1.01, its fat-binary telecommu- 
nications software. The app in- 
cludes capabilities for serial- 
modem communications and 
file transfers using X-, Y-, and 
ZMODEM, and VT100 termi- 
nal emulation. TeleComm also 
sports terminal-emulation and 
file-transfer APIs for custom data 
handling. Users can find demo 
copies of TeleComm on cs.orst. 
edu, or purchase copies direct- 
ly from Zion or the Electronic 
AppWrapper. It costs $89 or 
$45 educational. Zion: 203/ 
659-4257; info@zion.com. 

Thoughtful Software has an- 
nounced a new prerelease ver- 
sion of HyperSense, its fat- 
binary NEXTSTEP authoring 
tool for multimedia documents 
and applications. The prerelease 
version costs $299, while Ver- 
sion 1.0, due to ship in Ql of 
this year, will sell for $499. Pur- 
chasers of the prerelease version 
will receive the shipping product 
! for free. Thoughtful: 303/221- 
4596; info@thoughtfui.com. 

Walnut Creek CD-ROM in Dec- 
ember shipped its Nebula CD- 
ROM for NEXTSTEP Intel 
computers. The disc contains 
applications complete with 
source code, graphics, fonts, 
and sounds. Nebula retails for 
$59.95. Walnut Creek: 510/947- 
5996; info@cdrom.com. 

Paget Press also shipped its new- 
est CD-ROM, the Electronic 
AppWrapper Edition 4. The new- 
disc features a new database en- 
gine for faster searches, new 
music, [continued on page 171 



lighthouse snares code 
for expanded app suite 



by Dan Ruby 

San Mateo, CA - Lighthouse De- 
sign went on a buying spree in 
December, snapping up two or- 
phaned products from now- 
defunct Appsoft and an image- 
processing package from Pinnacle 
Research. But it remained unclear 
at press time how or even if Light- 
house would use some of the ac- 
quired technology. 

The acquisitions included the 
unfinished code for Appsoft 
Solution and Appsoft Write, 
although Lighthouse President 
Jonathan Schwartz stated flatly 
that the company has no interest 



in pursuing the NEXTSTEP word- 
processor market. Lighthouse 
could use some of the Write code 
in future releases of existing prod- 
ucts, he said. 

Schwartz also declined to com- 
mit to plans to publish Solution 
or any spreadsheet, though he 
noted that "the market is still 
wide open for a good traditional 
spreadsheet." Athena Design's 
Mesa spreadsheet is the current 
market leader in that category, 

A separate agreement between 
Lighthouse and Borland Interna- 
tional, owner of the PowerStep 
code on which Solution is 
based, [see Lighthouse, page U] 



HP station to set mark 



by Dan L a v i n 

Hewlett-Packard's new 
low-cost Model 712 
workstation will set a 
price/performance 
standard for NEXT- 
STEP when NeXT's 
PA-RISC port is fin- 
ished later this year. 

Starting at under 
$4000 list price, the 
Model 712 will com- 
pete with entry-level offerings 
from Sun and SGI, and with 
high-end Intel 486- and Pentium- 
based computers. The base 
model will sport 16MB of mem- 
ory, 260MB of disk, and a 15- 
inch color monitor for $3995. 

It is based on a new version 
of the HP PA-RISC design called 
the 7100LC, which offers superi- 
or performance to competitive 
RISC and CISC processors, ac- 
cording to HP test results. The 
company also announced a low- 
cost server line based on the new 
chip and outlined future strategy 
for the PA-RISC chip line. 

"We are moving aggressively 
into the commercial space," said 
Pierre Bouchard, product market- 
ing manager for HP's workstation 



HP pmh«s !ow«td pwfwmaici 



□iHtHH ggglCfrli 




cjS* ,«• ,<S°, .<& Jf> A 



SfWK; HP 



■" '-' ' ' 



group." We are aiming this line 
at information-systems depart- 
ments that need shrinkwrapped 
applications, a rich operating- 
system environment with network 
management, [ see HP, page 1 7] 



Object war escalates 



by Dan L a v i n 

San Francisco - One week 
after NeXT and Sun an- 
nounced their OpenStep 
alliance, Microsoft and 
Digital Equipment Corpo- 
ration (Digital) raised the 
stakes with a move to 
make their own object 
systems interoperable. 

The two announce- 
ments are indicative of 
the shifting industry 
alliances as all the major 
hardware manufacturers 
and operating-system 
suppliers prepare for the 
transition to the object- 
oriented applications 
environments of the fu- 
ture (see time line). 

"The whole industry 
is jockeying for position 
in this space because all the money 
to be made in developing soft- 
ware in the future is at stake," said 
Chris Stone, CEO of the Object 



00 milestones 



Q11994 

Beta of Taligent tool kits 

April 1994 

Release of OpenStep timetable 

Mid-1994 

Release of OpenStep specification 
NEXTSTEP for PA-RISC ships 

Late 1994 

NEXTSTEP for SPARC ships 
Beta of Microsoft Cairo 

1995 

Taligent tool kits ship 
Solaris with OpenStep ships 
Microsoft Cairo ships 

1996 

Taligent developer system ships 
Taligent operating system ships 

This time line is based on public statements 
about future product deliveries from the com- 
panies involved. 



Management Group (OMG), a 
standards organization. 

Under the Common Object 
Model (COM) [see War, page 1 71 



GS spearheads grass-roots 
coalition for publishing 



by Paul Curt hoys 

In what may be a robust reincar- 
nation of the defunct NeXT Pub- 
lishing Environment, GS Corpora- 
tion is spearheading a coordinated 
effort to once again promote NEXT- 
STEP technology as a publishing 



Dell gears up NeXT line 



by Dan Rub y 

Austin, TX - One of NeXT's ear- 
liest supporters among Intel-systems 
manufacturers is geared up to ship 
NEXTSTEP preinstalled on a line 
of four hardware platforms. 

While Dell computer has pre- 
viously filled orders for NEXT- 
STEP on its JAWS-based DGX 



computer, it was a nonstandard 
system using a slower 50 MHz 
'486 processor. Now, widi NEXT- 
STEP available on the complete 
line of Dell systems, from the in- 
expensive Dimension line to the 
mid-range Optiplex and the high- 
end Omniplex, the object-orient- 
ed operating system, is fully inte- 
grated into [see Dell, pace 17] 



solution for professional designers. 

Supported by NeXT and other 
third-party developers, GS has 
developed partnerships with Lino- 
type-Hell, Epson America, Canon 
and its resellers, and MicroAge 
to create an alliance that will 
market NEXTSTEP publishing 
solutions. 

K We came to NEXTSTEP to do 
publishing products," said Lauren 
Flanegan, president of GS Corpo- 
ration, "because it has real, tech- 
nological advantages." 

After NeXT's initial surge of 
interest in publishing faded, Flan- 
egan decided that the "only way 
to capitalize on this market was 
to do it ourselves." 

To enter that arena, GS devel- 
oped a partnership with Linotype- 
Hell, a company known for its 
state-of-the-art prepress equipment. 
In what [see Publishing, page 15] 



SIMSON00002035 



NeXTWDRLD extra 



Expanded driver support 



Redwood City - NeXT is currently developing a new set of drivers 
to complement the driver offerings in NEXTSTEP 3.2. Although 
the new drivers are scheduled to be available in the first quarter of 
this year, no firm ship date had been set at press time, according to 
Bob Lawton, Intel product manager at NeXT. Lawton added that an 
additional 32-bit EISA Ethernet adapter is also under development. 



Neural net models choices 



Card 



Expansion bus 



Graphics 




ATI 68800 AX 


VL-Bus, PCI 


Tseng Labs ET-4000 W32i 


VL-Bus 


STB Pegasus- VL for S3-928 


VL-Bus 


Diamond Viper- VL for Weitek Power 9000 


VL-Bus 


Number Nine GXE-VL for S3-928 


VL-Bus* 


SCSI 




Adaptec 274x 


EISA 


Bus Logic 445S 


VL-Bus 


Local area networks 




IBM Token-Ring 16/4 Adapter 


ISA 


*4MB version (2MB version supported in 3.2) 




Source: NeXT 





by Paul Curthoys 



co-Xist 




iii 



speed 



by Paul 
Curthoys 

Austin, TX - Pencom 
Software in December 
shipped co-Xist 3.2 for 
NEXTSTEP for Intel, 
which provides a 
NEXTSTEP implemen- 
tation of theXHR5 
Windows System With 
co-Xist, NEXTSTEP 
users can display X 
Window applications 
that are running on other machines 
in their network, furnishing access 
to applications that usually appear 
on Sun, HP, IBM, or DEC work- 
stations. 

Engineers can also utilize co- 
Xist's development environment 
to port NEXTSTEP apps to X 
Window sor to develop X Window 
apps using NEXTSTEP machines. 

New features in this updated 
version include substantial perfor- 
mance improvements, a GUI-based 



by Dam L a v i n 

Gainesville, FL - NeuroSolutions, 
a neural-network application en- 
vironment for NEXTSTEP, be- 
gan shipping in December from 
NeuroDimension. The product 
differs from neural-network pro- 
grams on other platforms by 
adding drag-and-drop capabili- 
ties and dynamic simulations of 
problems. 

"Their NEXTSTEP environ- 
ment made it possible for us to 
introduce a revolutionary prod- 
uct in terms of power and ease 
of use," said Dan Lawrence, 
marketing director for Neuro- 
Solutions. 

Neural networks attempt to 
mimic human brain processes to 
provide computer solutions to 
problems that normally require 
human insight. Users build a deci- 
sion-making framework and feed 
in their data; the neural-network 
frameworks then change in re- 
sponse to the data, and in effect, 
learn, giving sophisticated feed- 
back. 




co-Xist 3.2 offers expanded connectivity to X Windows. 



installation process, and greatly 
expanded graphics-card support. 
"We support all of the graphics 
cards that NeXT does, plus some 
that they don't," said Matthew 
Waters, who handles product mar- 
keting and sales for Pencom. 

The package costs $195; edu- 
cational discounts and expanded 
developer versions are available. 
Pencom Software: 512/343-6666, 
800/736-2664; co-Xist_info@pen- 
com.com. $ 



Lexar joins Intel fray 



by Dan Lav in 

Lexar Open Systems has joined 
the group of manufacturers spe- 
cifically configuring and market- 
ing computers for the NEXTSTEP 
market. Lexar's prime differenti- 
ation is its upgradeable bus, using 
what the company calls Anybud 
technology, in which VESA Opti 
and PCI LocaSbus architectures 
are interchangeable. 



Lexar showed machines run- 
ning NEXTSTEP at Comdex in 
November. The company does 
not sell directly to end users but 
works instead through resellers 
and VARs. Both Alpine Comput- 
ing of Salt Lake City, Utah, a 
reseller; and VTLS, a vertical 
reseller in the library communi- 
ty, have announced that they 
will carry the Lexar NEXTSTEP- 
specific products. $ 



Palo Alto, CA - Shipping bug-free 
software is easier in an object- 
oriented environment than with 
traditional programming tools, 
but software-quality assurance is 
still a problem for NEXTSTEP 
developers. Now they can identify 
and eradicate bugs faster using 
CrashCatcher from WhiteLight 
Systems, a nonintrusive run-time 
utility for Objective-C debugging, 

CrashCatcher generates de- 
tailed reports on crashes and non- 
fatal exceptions. Besides appearing 
on the user's screen, the reports 
can be routed through e-mail, mak- 
ing it especially useful during the 
beta-testing phase of development. 

CrashCatcher ships with an 
intentionally buggy version of 
Mission-Critical Solitaire, a card 
game for NEXTSTEP that White- 
Light also sells as a finished product, 

"Most people don't know that 
Solitaire is the app most used on 
Windows. Now NEXTSTEP does 
everything better than the Micro- 
soft product," said Norman Go!d- 
farb, WhiteLight's CEO. 

CrashCatcher is priced at §749 
per developer seat. Mission-Critical 
Solitaire is available for $35. 

WhiteLight: 415/321-2183; 
info@whitelight.com. & 



IWiwfcBtBttKllJf 







NeuroSolutions differs from competitors because of its graphical representation of both 
static and dynamic simulations. 



Besides ease of use, Neuro- 
Solutions enhances the standard 
neural-network model by being 
among the first to support dy- 
namic simularions in addition to 
traditional static simulations. 

Through dynamic modeling, 
users can model more complex 
data sets, tike voice patterns, that 
change over time. 

There are a wide variety of 



applications for neural networks, 
many of them in NEXT's core 
markets like financial services 
and medicine. "One of our prob- 
lems is that there are so many 
applications for the technology," 
said Lawrence. 

The product costs $2495 for 
the user system and $6495 for 
the developer version. NeuroDi- 
mension: 904/377-5144. $ 



China opens to 




Jim 



by Paul 
Curthoys 

Taipei, Taiwan - 
Broader foreign- 
language compat- 
ibility has arrived 
on the NEXT- 
STEP for Intel 
platform with the 
release of CHINA- 
ware, a Chinese 
system that is 
built on top of the 
English NEXT- 
STEP version. 

Produced by Jie-Fu Corpora- 
tion, CHINAware includes sev- 
eral apps that support a variety 
of everyday text-editing functions 
using Chinese characters. CInput 
allows users to input text in sev- 
eral different input modes (includ- 
ing Cang-jie, Phonetics, Simple, 
TeleCode, and Internal Code) and 
can interact with other NEXT- 
STEP apps. 

A text editor that works much 
like Edit, CEdit, is also included, 
providing support for RTF and 
RTFD files. Text-searching capa- 
bilities are supplied with CSearch, 
which lets users search for both 
Chinese and English characters, 
The package also includes five 
Chinese PostScript fonts and a 
complete Longman English-Chi- 
nese dictionary. 



it 



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«' . plif. J •'••• '!>■! I-: snii'2 '' ■ '■'• 

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mn o,K t.L'.'. Ju'.s 

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IMPS- 

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CHINAware brings Chinese text-editing and development tools 
to NEXTSTEP. 



CHINAware provides Chinese 
development tools as well, includ- 
ing CTerminal, a Chinese VT100 
terminal emulator; ChKit, a Chi- 
nese function-call library; and 
ChlBKic, a Chinese object palette 
and related library. 

Currendy, CHINAware only 
supports the Traditional Chinese 
Character set (BIG5 code set). 
Support for the Simplified Char- 
acter set (GB code set), which is 
used in mainland China, is cur- 
rently in the works, according to 
Jie-Fu. 

CHINAware lists for $995, and 
the educational version costs $395 
but has less functionality than 
the standard version. Jie-Fu can 
be contacted at 88/62/369-5121, 
88/62/369-5120 fax; idpt353 
@tptsl. seed.net. tw or tchuang 
@cube.ep.nctu.edu.tw. $ 




SIMSON00002036 



Lighthouse [from page uj 

gives Lighthouse rights to pursue 
development and marketing of a 
two-dimensional spreadsheet 
using the technology. 

In contrast to the Appsoft deals, 
Lighthouse will immediately enter 
the image-processing market with 
the acquisition of WetPaint from 
Pinnacle Research. Schwartz said 
the company will ship WetPaint 
in its current form as a prerelease 
version, then release a product 
under the Lighthouse name later 
in the first quarter. 

"While image manipulation 
may not be a huge market, there 
has been consistent and uniform 
demand for applications of this 
type," Schwartz said. 

Among the products that com- 
pete with WetPaint is another 
Appsoft application, Image, that 
was not included in the Lighthouse 
deal. According to Appsoft's Ran- 
dy Adams, he is close to conclud- 
ing a deal with an unnamed com- 
pany for the rights to Image. 

Adams said that the Lighthouse 
and other deals represent the con- 
cluding chapter for Appsoft. "A 
lot of work went into these prod- 
ucts. It's important to get them back 
into the community," Adams 
said, ^ 



Publishing [m«?«ii] 

Flanegan described as a "Trojan 
horse strategy," GS will accompany 
Linotype-Hell during the sales pro- 
cess to introduce service bureaus to 
NEXTSTEP publishing products. 

While GS has its foot in the 
door, it will promote its products 
and those of the other alliance 
members, including Altsys, Pages 
Software, and Lighthouse Design. 
"We'll offer referrals and spread 
positive information on other prod- 
ucts that fill other gaps," she ex- 
plained. 

The publishing alliance is tak- 
ing a mdtipronged approach to 
promoting a NEXTSTEP presence 
with its other potential customers. 
By working with Canon and its re- 
sellers, "we'll be able to get NeXT 
into some big companies through 
the back door," Flanegan said, 

In addition, GS has struck a 
deal with Epson and MicroAge to 
produce and distribute two ma- 
chines with bundled software from 
coalition members. The packages 
are designed for users who want 
to experiment with NEXTSTEP 
presentation or OCR technology. 

Finally, GS has developed a 
series of training seminars that will 
explore the advantages of using 
NEXTSTEP and Canon technol- 
ogy in a publishing environment. 

The alliance's plans are mov- 
ing along well, Flanegan said. "We 
have a few big clients lined up, and 
by January, we should be positioned 
to implement the plan." % 




xrsnp aMMonu 

OIMOTffilTOHMSE 



$4995 



□ 1486DX2/66 □ 32 MB RAM □ 560 MB SCSI HD 
□ ATI ULTRA VLB, 2MB VRAM □ ADAPTEC 1542C CNTRLR 

□ TOWER CASE □ I EISA/VLB MOTHERBRD □ 17" MONITOR 

□ 101 KEYBOARD □ TEAC 1.44MB FLOPPY □ TOWER CASE 

OTHER OPTIONS 



VIDEO CARDS 

ATI Ultra Pro VLB or EISA w/ 2MB VRAM 
STB Horizon VL-Bus 1MB video card 

Number 9, w/ 2MB VRAM 
All other approved video cards 

MEMORY 

60ns SIMMs available in 4MB or 16MB 
modules, up to 256MB on board 

CONTROLLERS 

All approved SCSI and IDE controllers are 
offered including Adaptec, Buslogic, DPT 
and Promise Technologies. 

MULTIMEDIA OPTIONS 

Toshiba Intgernal CD R0M ; 200ms 
Toshiba External CD ROM, 200ms 
Texel SCSI-2 External CD ROM 
Pro Audio 16 Sound card 
Pro Audio Studio Sound card 



Circle 96 on reader service card 




HARD DRIVES 

Micropolisl Gig Fast SCSI-2 HD 10ms 
Micropolis 560 MB Fast SCSI-2 HD 10ms 
Seagate 520 MB SCSI-2 HD 12ms 
Seagate 450 MB IDE HD 12ms 
western Digital 340 MB SCSI-2 HD 12ms 

MONITORS 

15" CTX 1024x768 NI Low Radiation 
17" NanaoT550i 1280x1024 NI .28 
17" Mag 17F 1280x1024 NI .26 
17" Sceptre 1280x1024 NI .26 Trinitron 
Other monitors on request 

ACCESSORIES 

I/O card w/l6C550Uart Chip 

RAID 7-Chassis Case w/ 3 Shuttles 
14.4 Baud Modems 
NextStep Software (Installed) 

NETWORK CARD OPTIONS 

Intel EtherExpress 16 
SMC Ethernet Elite 



GEC 

1901 E. University #300 Mesa, AZ 85203 
Fax: (602) 834-1522 BBS (602) 834-6662 

(800) 486-1500 

flione: (602) 834-1111 



QUALITY 

Above all, asystem from 
G.E.C. is quality. Very competi- 
tive pricing is just a little bonus. 
Our customers tell us that the 
reason they buy from us is they 
know the machine will work, and 
that if something happens to go 
wrong, a professional technician 
is going to make it right in a 
hurry. 

G.E.C. has set its stan- 
dard by insisting on quality com- 
ponents. These include NMB key- 
boards (used by Compaq) TEAC 
floppy disk drives (die industry 
standard) and faster 60ns RAM, 
Our customers take note of Hie 
Me things like the Diamond 
series cases, quiet power sup- 
plies, the use of fan-cooled heat 
sinks on the CPU. 

EXPERIENCE 

Trydealingwithacom- 
pany where every salesman 
knows NextStep standards and 
every technician has built, loaded 
and tested NextStep compatibles. 
Our techicians have received 
trainingin NextStep, workclosely 
with Next and with our custom- 
ers on compatibilty, and are in- 
volved in Next users groups. 

PRICE 

G.E.C. has found only- 
one way to further lower your 
prices. Some of our competitors 
have done this, but our custom- 
ers have asked us to refrain. Do 
we know where to buy cheaper 
components? Yes. We don't think 
you want a $17 keyboard or a 
$35 non-Ul approved case. We 
believe in sticking with compo- 
nents that have proven them- 
selves. We resist exchanging 
quality for price. We will offer 
youthebest prices possible, while 
the quality remains a constant 









MasterCard, 



VfSA 



SIMSON00002037 






I i X T V I I EXTRA 



NeXT names new user liaison Dutch reseller tries 






by Paul Curthoys 

Redwood City - NeXT announced 
in December that it has tapped 
Darren Smith to replace Conrad 
Geiger as the communications 
specialist in NeXT's marketing 
and communications division. 
Smith formerly worked in NeXT's 
technical-support department, 
handling questions about Intel 
configurations and installation, 

"I'm really excited about the 
position," Smith said. "I've gotten 
a good spin from Conrad on how 
important it is to keep everyone 
informed and some tips on how 
to communicate well with user 
groups. It was great to be in tech 
support helping people individu- 
ally, and it'll be even better to be 
on the front line selling NeXT." 

"We're really excited to bring 



this function in-house," said Lisa 
Magnuson, marketing programs 
manager at NeXT. "Darren is re- 
sponsible for communicating with 
the outside NeXT user communi- 
ty and will have the added respon- 
sibility of communicating with 
[NeXT's] direct-sales force." 

Geiger, who lives in Seattle, 
was dismissed in November when 
NeXT decided to relocate his func- 
tion to Redwood City. Because 
Smith works out of the main of- 
fice, he will have contact with 
everyone who is producing the in- 
formation, Magnuson explained. 
Smith will be able to take part in 
"conversations in the hallways 
and in cafes, and that will let us 
be more responsible and have a 
team effort," she said. 

"Conrad did a great job," 
Magnuson added. "This is in no 



way a reflection on him. We're 
sorry to see him go, but, at the 
same time, we're excited to have 
Darren on board." 

Smith will continue Geiger's 
tradition of informing interested 
parties of the latest NeXT news 
and of strongly supporting user 
groups, Magnuson said. ^ 



ambitious marketing 



by Eliot Bergson 

De Meern, The Netherlands - If 

sales are directly proportional to 
marketing efforts, Benelux NEXT- 
STEP distributor IC Group should 



Alembic ups offerings 



by Dan L a v i n 

Denver - Since being named pres- 
ident and CEO of Alembic Sys- 
tems in mid-October, John Pierce 
has refocused business plans and 
returned the company to opera- 
tional profitability, according to 




Taius Imaging is proud to announce the finest application 
on any platform for the professional output of images to a 
wide variety of high-end imaging devices, from film 
recorders to printers and plotters. 



IMAGINATION currently supports: 

Polaroid CI-5000 & 5000s Film Recorders, 

Solitaire Film Recorders, Sapphire Film Recorders, 

AGFA Film Recorders, IRIS 4012, 3024 & 3047 High 

Resolution Printers, SuperMatch Printers 

As one of the leading developers 

of device drivers for NeXTSTEP", 

Talus will be happy to create 

a custom driver for you to support 

just about any output device 

you can imagine. 




Tel.: 800-758-2138 Fax: 713-561-5428 Email: info@talus 



Circle 34 on reader service card 



the company. 

"Sales have doubled each 
month because we are concentrat- 
ing on profit centers," said Pierce. 

Alembic has dropped its sys- 
tems-integration business and is 
concentrating on distributing 
third-party software and an Alem- 
bic-labeled Intel-based computer 
in North America and Europe, 
with a special focus on distribut- 
ing to resellers. 

The company carries more 
than 150 software applications 
and has sufficient resources to 
provide first-line technical support 
on all of them, Pierce said. Alem- 
bic now has 12 employees and 
offices in Colorado and Darby, 
England. 

"Working with Alembic is 
great. We never used NeXTCon- 
nection, but we use Alembic be- 
cause they are a true NEXTSTEP 
distributor, especially into the in- 
direct channel," said Scott Love, 
CEO of Millennium Software. 

Alembic Systems Internation- 
al: 303/799-6223. % 



be swamped with new customers 
by the summer. 

The company in December re- 
leased Take the NEXTSTEP, a 
compilation of NeXT corporate 
profiles, white papers on various 
technical topics, and purchasing 
proposals for bundling options. 
The book, along with third-party 
product brochures and a copy of 
the Electronic App Wrapper from 
Paget Press, was mailed to over 
200 resellers, developers, and users. 

The mailing came right on the 
heels of a seminar series that IC 
Group conducted with major 
Dutch NEXTSTEP partners and 
customers, including HP and Euro- 
card Mastercard Nederland. The 
seminars featured live application 
development; PDO demonstrations 
on HP 9000 and Vectra PCs; guest 
speakers from customer sites; and 
the introduction of IC Group's 
WORK*00*BENCH, a custom 
application for managing object- 
oriented project development. 

And through NeXTTOUCH, 
an interactive network-informa- 
tion service, IC Group is also at- 
tempting to "make professional 
computer users and software devel- 
opers of object-oriented technol- 
ogy and portable ObjectWare," 
according to the company. Users 
can receive press releases, techni- 
cal sheets, white papers, maga- 
zine articles, and ObjectWare so- 
lutions. 

IC Group: 31/3406/212-25; 
dvlamings@icgned.nl. % 



BELL ATLANTIC SUPPORT 







SLEUTH 



Less than a year 
after NeXT 
stopped manu- 
facturing its 
technically ad- 
vanced but 
poorly selling 
hardware, many 
customers still 
rely on existing NeXTstations, 
NeXTcubes, and even those rarely 
seen NeXTdimensions to run their 
businesses. 

Orphaned or not, these cus- 
tomers are finding it difficult to 
match the integration, robustness, 
and all-around elegance of the 
original NeXT hardware with ex- 
isting Intel configurations. If you 
shop around, NeXT computers 
can be a real bargain. 

The Sleuth called Bell Atlantic, 
the authorized service provider for 
NeXT hardware, to see if NeXT 
was keeping its promise to provide 



support for users of black hard- 
ware. The Sleuth was pleased to 
discover knowledgeable, extreme- 
ly cooperative technicians who 
were ready to do whatever it takes 
to keep a system running, whether 
that means arranging for either 
on- or off-site service, sending out 
replacement parts, or selling a ful- 
ly configured system. 

Bell Atlantic has emerged as 
an important source for everything 
from complete systems to toner 
cartridges, CD-ROM drives, and 
NeXT ADB keyboards. Its stock 
won't last forever, but while it 
does, black hardware remains a 
viable option. 

NeXT hardware support: 800/ 
499-3698. Bell Atlantic: 800/345- 
7950. 

Each month, the Sleuth will look 
at a different aspect of NEXT- 
STEP distribution. 



SIMSON00002038 



■ ■ ■." ■ . , ■ f .. ¥ ...i^P| - — r .! II. I ' H - I 



EXTWflBLD extra 




updated Intel product info, and 
an ''interactive gift boutique," ac- 
cording to the company. Paget: 
206/448-0845; aw@paget.com. 

Hot Technologies has released 
Version 2.0 of its Bar-a-Coda ap- 
plication, which features a com- 
pletely redesigned user interface, 
drag-and-drop bar codes, and 
support for Object Linking, NeXT 
services, and multiple bar-code 
generation.The software costs 
S349. Hot Technologies: 617/ 
252-0088; info@hot.com. 

CCRMA Music Kit 4.0 is now 

available from the Computer 
Center for Research in Music 
and Acoustics at Stanford Uni- 
versity. The object-oriented soft- 
ware system for building music, 
sound, signal-processing, and 
MIDI applications under NEXT- 
STEP is available free by anony- 
mous ftp from the host ccrma-ftp. 
The kit, which features a host 
of new capabilities, was origi- 
nally developed by NeXT but 
has been supported by CCRMA 
since 1991. 

BLaCKSMITH in December 

shipped CHaRTSMITH, its 
graphing and charting package. 
The fat-binary software is de- 
signed to let novice or expert 
users create business or scien- 
tific presentations through inte- 
grated NEXTSTEP software 
capabilities like drag and drop 
and Object Linking. CHaRT- 
SMITH sells for $495. BLaCK- 
SMITH: 703/ 524-6147; info@ 
blcksmth.com. 

Legem: Corporation has signed 
a Setter of intent to purchase 
TeamOne Systems, the Sunny- 
vale, California-based developer 
ofTeamTools, a NEXTSTEP 
software-development manage- 
ment and configuration package. 
By combining TeamOne's prod- 
ucts into Legent's ENDEVOR 
change-management product 
line, the company hopes to pro- 
vide seamless integration of 
configuration-management 
capabilities across a wide range 
of UNLX platforms. Legent: 
703/708-3118. 

Xanthus International in late 
November shipped Craphity, its 
business-graphing software pack- 
age aimed at business users. With 
a complete API and 3-D and 
RenderMan support, Graphity 
is designed to function as a stand- 
alone app or in conjunction with 
Questor, the company's flat-file 
database product. Graphity costs 
$395. Xanthus: 46/8/635-3000; 
xanthus@xanthus.se. 



[from p\ge 131 
and the enterprisewide service and 
support that HP can provide.'" 

NeXT and HP had the Model 
712 in mind as the target platform 
for NEXTSTEP for PA-RISC as far 
back as last May, when the two 
companies announced their part- 
nership, according to a source at 
NeXT. An alpha version of the 
PA-RISC port is expected to be 
shown when HP officially unveils 
the new systems in mid-January. 
The product is on track to ship by 
the middle of this year, as previ- 
ously announced, the source said. 

The new HP low-cost E-Class 
servers, which begin at less than 
$5000, are due in the first quarter 
of 1994. Designed for enterprise- 
wide solutions requiring a large 
number of distributed servers, the 
systems are well suited to host 
NeXT's Portable Distributed Ob- 
jects for HP servers, a product 
that began shipping in November. 

The new machines promise fast 
graphics and integer-calculation 
speed. MPEG decompression built 
into the silicon displays full-motion 
video at 30 frames per second. Al- 
though the servers and worksta- 
tions share the same processor, the 
servers can hold more memory 
and larger disks, and have more 
networking and I/O ports. * 



Dell [from pa;,:: S 

Dell's overall strategy. 

"Until now, we didn't have 
the right hardware architecture 
in place to fully support NEXT- 
STEP. Now we are ready to go for 
it," said Tom Hartsell, manager 
of business solutions software for 
Dell's advanced systems group. 

The company preloads NEXT- 
STEP to order. It is also in the 
process of negotiating deals with 
NEXTSTEP third-party develop- 
ers, that will allow the company 
to offer a variety of preinstalled 
software bundles. 

At the low end, Dell offers its 
Dimension XPS, a commodity ISA 
system with Number Nine graph- 
ics and prices beginning as low as 
$2000. Buyers can step up to the 
Optiplex line of ISA-bus, low- 
profile desktops and servers or the 
multibus Omniplex EISA systems. 
Both of the latter lines are available 
in Pentium versions. 

Dell will also continue to sell 
its older DGX system. 

"This represents a product line 
that we think is competitive in the 
NeXT arena. With Dell's aggres- 
sive pricing and the performance 
on the new systems, we think 
these products will be leaders in 
price/performance," Hartsell 
said.* 



SUfl [FROM PAGE 13] 

protocol, applications supporting 
Microsoft's OLE (Object Linking 
and Embedding) architecture will 
communicate and collaborate with 
applications using Digital's Object- 
Broker implementation of OMG's 
CORBA standard. 

Beyond the technical import 
of the announcement, Microsoft 
and Digital are trying to encour- 
age software vendors to develop 
their products on Windows NT 
today in preparation for a future 
migration to Cairo, the object- 
oriented version of NT, according 
to Stone. 

"We expect all users to migrate 
to object-oriented operating sys- 
tems over the years, though the 
vast majority will continue using 
procedural-based Windows until 
their machines are upgraded," said 
Mark Ryland, senior program man- 
ager in Microsoft's Cairo group. 

This strategy resembles NeXTs 
ractic of encouraging developers 
to bet on NEXTSTEP in antici- 
pation of a future migration to 
OpenStep. In both cases, compa- 
nies are trying to highlight an ad- 
vantage in both time to market 
and the number of potential desk- 
tops for their object-oriented op- 
erating systems. 

COM is primarily related to 



objects distributed over a network, 
not the higher-level application 
environment addressed by Open- 
Step. Instead, the proposed stan- 
dard competes most directly with 
Sun's Distributed Objects Every- 
where model, as welt as NeXTs 
Portable Distributed Object sys- 
tem. So far, OMG has received 13 
proposals for what will ultimately 
emerge as the CORBA 2 distributed- 
objeet standard. 

"What we are seeing is that 
Microsoft is coming into the fold 
of object systems based on OMG 
standards," said Bud Tribble, vice- 
president of object products for 
SunSoft in Mountain View, Cali- 
fornia. "That's due to the fact that 
some level of commonality is 
going to be necessary to actually 
create an objectware industry as 
we go forward in this decade." 

The announcement suggests 
that Digital, which already offers 
Windows compatibility throughout 
its product line as an option, may 
now embrace Microsoft's Cairo 
operating system and Windows in- 
terface as its preferred standard for 
object-oriented operating systems. 

Ryland denied that the COM 
announcement was rushed to re- 
spond to OpenStep. "There's no 
relation. We picked the date a 
month or two before."* 



Wiser SunSoft is proud to be your Bud 



One of the first steps in implementing the new era of cooperation between 
Sun and NeXT was an agreement to exchange customer mailing lists. It. 
Sullivan had to question how much added value this represents for Sun, 
since the company had little difficulty acquiring the names for a mailing last year. 

One name that won't be on the list is hatchet man Randall Stress, whose 
smutty little volume on Steve Jobs and NeXT has not exactly bumed up the best- 
seller lists, despite a well-oiled publicity campaign and surprisingly uncritical 
reviews. Stress turned up for the NeXT-SunSoft announcement but was uncere- 
moniously booted by NeXT's marketing managers, who 
explained the event was by invitation only. 

Steve Jobs said at the announcement that NeXT's rela- 
tionship with Sun is more "intimate" than its liaison with 
Hewlett-Packard, hut that doesn't seem to be bothering the 
strategists at HP. 

That's the beauty of open systems: You compete on the 
merits and don't squawk about the competition. All of the 
indications are that HP will expand its commitment to 
NEXTSTEP, but that doesn't mean they will necessarily 
endorse the OpenStep strategy. Rather than merging tech- 
nologies, HP leans toward keeping HP-UX pure and offering 
NEXTSTEP as an independent option. 

Sun and HP should have a little more company very 
soon. Another "bud" is set to join NeXTs two object part- 
ners. Negotiations are running fast and furious, though 
they didn't make the end-of-1993 timing Sullivan men- 
tioned last column. 

Remember those defections of top Epson managers to Canon Computer Sys- 
tems? CCS) is ready to tell all on January 11. Sullivan is expecting the com- 
pany to announce that it is broadening its previous S0H0 [small office, 
home office! computing focus to roll out a new division making corporate systems. 
Based in Portland, Oregon, the new division will offer high-end Intel-based work- 
stations optimized for NEXTSTEP, with other operating systems to be offered 
at some point in the future. Expect to see the first boxes ship in the first half of 
the year. 

Speaking of Canon, there is still no leader designated for Powerhouse, whose 
engineers are plodding away at designing advanced workstations. No leader means 
no business model, no game plan, and no decision on what operating systems 
its hardware will run. It is very possible that Powerhouse might confine its role 



to research and development, with CCSI winning the right to market and sell the 
Powerhouse workstation tine. This would put Canon in the HP mold, selling both 
a high-end RISC workstation line and a low-end Intel-based workstation line. 



w 

If j 



li. Sullivan 




ith NeXT closed for the holidays, Sullivan's attention turned to third- 
party promises. Anderson Financial put some teeth in its self-imposed 
January 1 deadline for shipping WriteUp by promising to refund pre- 
purchasers a dollar for every day of missed shipment. As of this writing, it looks 
like the company could be rebating $10 to $15 per prepaid 
customer. Still, that's way better than Anderson's semicom- 
petHors at Pages, whose AW0L status looks to continue for 
another month or more. Pages is past the point of making any 
new promises, which may be part of the problem. 

Another company that prefers actions to words is Light- 
house Design, whose end-of-the-year buying spree seems 
destined to result in another spreadsheet choice for NEXTSTEP 
buyers, even if the company is staying mum for the time be- 
ing. Meanwhile, Athena Design is expressing indifference 
over a possible new competitor, counting on its muttiyear head 
start to keep Mesa out in front. 

Back at AFS, ex-NeXTer Chris Younger will be doing some 
real programming work, despite the impressive Vice Presi- 
dent sign on his office door. In fact, he will be splitting his 
time between home and the office, which helped make the 
position more interesting than NeXTs offer of his old job back. 
Chris had departed NeXT only six months ago to work with 
his old boss, Scott Abel, at Pencom, Meanwhile, Mark Skaggs has left the Virtu- 
oso/Freehand team to head a new Altsys venture, Tetragon, which will be pro- 
ducing software for the 3D0 platform. 

Finally, with the OpenStep deal, NEXTSTEP programming talent is even more 
in demand. SHL Systemhouse is looking for 25 NEXTSTEP jockeys, having booked 
more than $20 million in NEXTSTEP-development business by the end of 1993. 
With ITS, Canon, and others also looking for people, it's a seller's market. 



Having trouble getting along with your bud; Well maybe it's the pressure 
of seven million venture-capital dollars. Consider the peacemaking proper- 
ties of a Lt. Sullivan mug for the low, low price of an insider tip. Leave 
Sully a voice-mail message at 415/978-3374 or e-mail him at sullivan@ 
nextworld.com. R.SA public key available upon request. 



SIMSON00002039 






Sun and NeXT throw open the doors to industry- 
standard object-oriented computing 




by Lee Sherman 



NEXTSTEP running on millions of desktops with scalable performance 
that makes it the environment of choice for everything from low- 
end workstations to high-performance servers. 

It once seemed impossible. 

But the stunning announcement in November that found longtime 
competitors NeXT and Sun agreeing to combine forces in an attempt to 
push NEXTSTEP as the standard operating and development environment 
for object-oriented client-server systems has dramatically increased NEXT- 
STEP'S chances of becoming entrenched in the enterprise, long before Tali- 
gent or Microsoft can even field a product. 

In adopting an open-systems strategy, NeXT will publish OpenStep, an 
open specification that defines the APIs of NEXTSTEP'S application envi- 
ronment. SunSoft, Sun's software satellite, has licensed this application en- 
vironment and will use it in a future version of its Solaris operating system. 
NeXT will also produce a native port of NEXTSTEP for SPARC systems. 

The deal increases the credibility of both companies. For NeXT, it was 
a tacit acknowledgment from its former arch rival that NeXT is several 
years ahead of other operating-system vendors in object-oriented technol- 
ogy. Sun's $10-million investment in NeXT also provides a needed finan- 
cial boost to the still-struggling company. For 
Sun, it provides the missing piece in the com- 
pany's distributed-computing strategy. 

"NeXT and Sun have realized they are 
not each other's worst enemy," says Nina Lyt- 
ton, an open-systems proponent and president 
of Open Systems Advisors. "The enemy is 
Microsoft." 

Microsoft's object-oriented environment, Cairo, 
isn't expected until 1995, the same year that Tal- 
igent's object-oriented technology may begin show- 
ing up in system software from Apple and IBM. 
While many companies can afford to wait, oth- 
ers, particularly those in time-sensitive markets 
such as financial services and health care, will 
choose to take a chance on NEXTSTEP because 
it solves their problems today. Even before the 
announcement, NeXT and Sun had many cus- 








tomers in common. NeXT software ninning on Sun hardware is, for many, the 
best of both worlds. 

Perfect match 

While it may seem strange to hear Sun touting the benefits of application 
development under NEXTSTEP, given its previous dismissal of both NeXT 
and its technology, the partnership makes strong economic sense. 

"It was time to stop the bickering," Lytton says. "NeXT has a system 
that is accepted among corporate developers, but they've been perceived as 
an island unto themselves. Teaming up with Sun on OpenStep really rein- 
forces NeXT's viability as a software-only company." For Sun's part, Lyt- 
ton says, adopting NeXT's technology will help Sun move the UNIX com- 
munity' in the direction of object systems. 

Analysts agree that neither company could do it alone. Sun's respected 
presence as the leading UNIX hardware vendor will help bring object tech- 
nology out of the labs and onto the desktops of corporate America. NeXT 
is the only company delivering a time-tested product today. 

Sun might have preferred to develop a solution internally but recog- 
nized that burying the hatchet and working with NeXT was the only way 

to beat its competitors to market, according to 
Hugh Bishop, who follows object technology 
for the Aberdeen Group of Boston. "The mar- 
QiMrtQ /h ket reahty is such that in order to provide a 
vuijj I timely solution, you've got to work and partner 
with others," he says. 

But even with Sun's clout behind its tech- 
nology, NeXT has a difficult task ahead of 
itself. "The key for NeXT is not so much R&D 
as it is marketing and sales," Bishop says. 

Sun's track record in marketing its technol- 
ogy is impressive. With over one million units 
shipped and over 8000 software applications, 
Solaris is the most popular UNIX environ- 
ment available today. It is currently avail- 
able for SPARC and Intel x86 computers, 
with plans to move to the PowerPC in 1994, 
a port that will provide a ■» Page 22 



IS Mm FEBRUARY 1994 




SIMSON00002040 



FEAT 




TECHNICAL IMPLICATIONS 



The OpenStep deal between NeXT and Sun appeals to offer important new oppor- 
tunities to NEXTSTEP and Solaris developers. From the limited details released 
at the announcement, however, ft is difficult at this writing to understand all the 
technical implications of the agreement Since the companies themselves have 
not agreed on the extent of their agreement or the technical means thai will be 
used to accomplish their goals, much of this analysis is necessarily speculative. 

SPM? pott For developers, the port of NDCTSTEP to SPARC won't be fundamen- 
tal^ different from the port of NEXTSTEP to HP's PA-RISC architecture. Like the 
HP workstations, and in marked contrast to the Intel '486 PC world, Sun work- 
stations are integrated systems that work out of the box. Without the need to 
configure jumpers, mix and match interface boards, and deal with third-party 
suppliers. SPARCstations will have much of the feel of NeXTs black hardware. 

NeXT has already stated that NEXTSTEP 3.3, expected in mid 1994, will sup- 
port fat binaries tor Motorola, Intel, ami PA-RISC processors. It is logical to as- 
sume that there will now be a NEXTSTEP 3.4, due in late 1994, that will add 
SPARC support In that release, we'll see not three but four check boxes with Pro- 
jectBuilder (hi which applications are compiled) and NeXTs Installer 
(which lets the user choose precisely which combination of fat 
binaries should be Installed). Fundamentally, NeXTs Multiple 
Architecture Binary system is already up to the task of sup- 
porting SPARC. 

Until NeXT implements the support for symmetric 
multiprocessing systems that's already inside the Mach 
kernel. Sun's top-of-the-Iine multiprocessor worksta 
bans won't work with NEXTSTIP. 

The OpenStep specification: As part of the Sun-NeXT 
announcement, NeXT said that K would be "opening up' 
the NEXTSTEP API. By this, NeXT means that it will freely 
license the Objective-C API used by the NeXT Application Kit, 
DBftit, and other kits and packages. NeXT has also created the new 
OpenStep trademark, which it will license free of charge to any company 
that faithfully implements Hie API. 

OpenStep means that NeXT has now promised not to sue other companies 
that create NEXTSTEP clones, just as Adobe does not sue those who make Post- 
Script-compatible interpreters. Realistically, it is doubtful that any company will 
come to market any time soon with a competitive OpenStep implementation, 
though some members of the Free Software Foundation have long expressed an 
interest in such a project Other firms interested in OpenStep could get it cheaper, 
faster, and easier by simply licensing the software from NeXT, as Sun has done. 

OpenStep for Solaris: Unlike the native port of NEXTSTEP, which will require 
users to give up their installed base of Solaris applications, OpenStep for Solaris 
will permit NEXTSTEP applications to coexist with existing Solaris applications. 
It will therefore open up Sun's installed base of more than one million customers 
to today's NEXTSTEP developers. 

Nothing comes for free, however. OpenStep for Solaris will make it possible 
for a company like Stone Design to port Create to Solaris, but unlike NEXTSTEP 
for SPARC, that port wont be a simple recompile. Solaris 2.0 is based on SVR4 
(System V, Release 4) UNIX, while NEXTSTEP is based on Mach and Berkeley 
UNIX. Wherever developers make use of a particular Mach function, such as Mach 
messaging, changes will have to be made. Other changes will be required because 
Solaris places #inc!ude files in different places than NEXTSTEP does. 

Also, Sun plans to support OpenStep only on Solaris, not SunOS, says Bud 







Tribble, SunSoft's vice-president of object products. Not aH Sun customers have 
made the switch from SunOS to Solaris, 

The OpenStep version of a NEXTSTEP program will probably took identical 
to that same program running on a NEXTSTEP desktop. The differences will be 
in the other windows; They wont look like NEXTSTEP windows. Instead, they'll 
look much like they do now: a mix of Open Look, Motif, X Windows, and Micro- 
soft Windows (through Sun's Windows Application Binary interface, or WAS). 

X Winnows and Display PostScript Although the Solaris desktop is based upon 
X Windows and NEXTSTEP is based upon Display PostScript, this difference 
shouldn't be a major hurdle for Sun: it recently licensed Display PostScript forX 
Windows from Adobe. Presumably, PostScript will be available from inside an X 
Windows window via a Display PostScriirt-XWlndtwserfeitston. Although Sun will 
have to make minor changes to NEXTSTEP'S Application and Windows classes to 
initiate a connection with the Solaris X Windows server and create each window, 
programs built upon OpenStep will still be able to draw inside those windows with 
conventional PostScript commands. 

Objective-C and C++." Until now, C++ has been the object-oriented lingua franca 
inside Sun, whereas Objective-C has been the forbidden tongue of a 
bitter enemy. That might now change. What remains to be seen 
is how happy Sun's programmers will be to abandon C++, and 
how intent Sun is on preserving its commitment to exist- 
ing C++ code. A cozy middle ground would be to allow 
C++ objects to send messages to Objective-C objects 
using C++ syntax, -and we versa. 



COflM'Ever^nc^ftpndu^Ol^lVlanageinent 
Group more than a year ago, NeXT has promised to in- 
corporate standards such as CORBA (Common Object 
Request Broker Architecture) into the NEXTSTEP operat- 
ing system. Those promises were repeated when the NeXT- 
HP deal was announced, and they were reiterated when the 
MT-Sun agreement was revealed. 
This time, NeXT can be expected to follow through on these promises 
by making the NEXTSTEP Workspace Manager an object "broker" and by modi- 
fying its Distributed Object technology to interoperate with other CQRBA-compli- 
ant brokers. The reason, as mentioned above, is that Sun has already sunk a great 
deal of time and capital into its Project DOE (Distributed Objects Everywhere), 
which is based on TooiTalk, a C++ distributed-object messaging environment that 
Sun hopes to evolve into a CORBA-compBant object broker. In order for OpenStep 
applications and TooiTalk applications to be able to coexist on a single Solaris 
desktop, the two environments must be able to interoperate. The need for this 
sort of coexistence is the very problem that CORBA is intended to solve. 

Common Desktop Environment For existing Solaris developers, the biggest ques- 
tion behind the NeXT-Sun deal is what happens with Sun's existing commitment 
to the Common Desktop Environment (CDE) - Sun's attempt, with the help of HP, 
Novell, Digital, and other major UNIX vendors, to create a standard UNIX desk- 
top, UNIX API, and documentation set. 

CDE is fundamentally incompatible with NEXTSTEP (or OpenStep). Instead, 
Solaris will allow users to select a dominant application-environment "personal- 
ity" - either CDE, OpenStep, or WABI. Applications written to other environments 
will run in a window within the dominant environment 






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SIMSON00002043 



FEAT 



E 



<& Grand Opening 

home for OpenStep on that emerging platform. 

Layer cake 

Many Solaris features will sound familiar to NEXTSTEP users, since both 
environments are based on UNIX variants. Solaris provides high-perfor- 
mance networking, multitasking, multithreading, and multiprocessing 
capabilities, and SunSoft has recently adopted Adobe's Display PostScript 
as an imaging model. With the addition of Sun's WABI (Windows Applica- 
tion Binary Interface) software, Solaris is capable of running Windows 
applications, much as NEXTSTEP can when combined with SoftPC. 

Like NEXTSTEP, Solaris is an operating environment, not just an oper- 
ating system. At the core is SunOS SVR4, but Solaris is much more than 
another flavor of UNIX. Sun has a history of supporting standards while 
enhancing them at the same time. Among its additions to plain-vanilla 
UNIX are the OpenWindows graphical user interface and the ToolTalk inter- 
appiication-communications protocol. Built-in tools include a file manager, 
multimedia mail system, viewer for PostScript and TUT images, text editor, 
and shell. There is also a comprehensive hypertext help system. 

Solaris is also multilayered (see "How OpenStep fits in Solaris"). Sit- 
ting on top of the operating-system kernel is ONC+ and NFS, software 
that provides Solaris with its networking capabilities. Above that sits the 
window server, based on a combination of XI 1 and Adobe's Display Post- 
Script. Next comes OpenWindows and the Common Desktop Environment 
(CDE), which together provide the user environment. The top layer is 
where the applications sit. 

That is Solaris today. For several years, SunSoft has been working on 
Project DOE (Distributed Objects Everywhere), which inserts an additional 
layer enabling transparent communication between objects over a network. 

"DOE is kind of a backplane that you can plug objects into such that 
they can cooperate over a network," says Bud Tribble, vice-president of 
object products at SunSoft. It provides the infrastructure that allows 
objects to communicate over a network and enables users to build object- 
oriented distributed systems. What it does not provide is the specific appli- 
cation environment - the APIs and user interface - for building and dis- 
playing object-based applications. This is where OpenStep comes in. 

OpenStep provides Solaris with the very same applications layer current- 



How OpenStep fits in Solaris 



Solaris Today 



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ly found in today's NEXTSTEP. That includes all portions independent of 
the operating system, including the AppKit, DBKit, Display PostScript, Dis- 
tributed Objects, and Objective-C. All applications written for OpenStep 
will run in any OpenStep environment, including Solaris. In-house devel- 
opers benefit from the rapid development cycles available with NEXTSTEP 
and avoid the limitations that previously existed. They can now deploy their 
custom apps on Solaris, taking full advantage of Sun's advances in distributed 
computing and the price/performance advantages of SPARC hardware. 
In addition, since OpenStep is a subset of the existing APIs, shrink- 
wrapped applications should run on Solaris with only minor modifications. 
OpenStep also provides a way for developers to write applications that 
take advantage of Sun's distributed-object technology, the DOE system. 
Object applications based on DOE and OpenStep will coexist with exist- 
ing OpenWindows/CDE apps. 

You've got personality 

In the future, Solaris is expected to allow you to customize the user inter- 
face to suit your needs by employmg what Tribble refers to as "personali- 
ties." Users who choose the OpenStep personality will log into a workspace 
that looks very much like the one NEXTSTEP users know today, with a Sun 
logo in place of the NeXT logo at the top of the Dock. From within the 
workspace, you'll have the ability to access any program running on your 
system, whether it is a CDE program, a Windows program, or an Open- 
Step program. It will launch in its own window, with controls pertaining 
to its native environment. While the details of how all this will work have 
yet to be figured out, Tribble talks of a Dock concept that could span all en- 
vironments. 

Users will select a default personality but will be able to run any of the 
three types of applications in windows within that environment. SunSoft's 
challenge, Tribble says, it to make sure that there is smooth interoperabil- 
ity. Each type of application must run within each environment, including 
the ability to copy and paste between dissimilar application types. 

This flexibility is made possible by powerful hardware that can sup- 
port multiple personalities and new operating environments in which the 
user interface isn't bound to the operating system, as it is on older systems 
like the Macintosh. 

Although OpenStep will be included in Solaris, Tribble and many ana- 
lysts agree that many of Sun's existing customers, particularly those with- 
out the need for custom applications, will choose to remain with the CDE 
personality in the near and midterm future. But Sun's customer base has 
proven to be technically savvy, and a significant percentage is likely to 
adopt OpenStep as its main working environment. 

Tribble thinks that the complete transition will occur over five to ten 
years. "We believe that we wiJJ be shipping our CDE procedural environment 
through the end of the century and probably beyond," says Tribble. "Over 
time, more people will move to OpenStep, and, by the end of this decade, 
more people will be using objects than the procedural environment." 

To NeXT partisans who have already made the switch from the pro- 
cedural world to the object world, that may sound like a slow implemen- 
tation strategy. But, like any company with a large installed base, Sun has 
to worry about its customers that have large investments in legacy systems 
and software. 

Meanwhile, NeXT will continue to aggressively pursue its own oper- 
ating-system strategy. With its native port of NEXTSTEP for SPARC, it 
adds one more important arrow to its quiver of products. Cooperating on 
standards while competing on implementations is what the open-systems 
world is all about. 







Future versions of Solaris will support multiple application environments, including OpenStep, 
that sit atop Sun's DOE technology for basic object services. 



SIM SON 00002044 



FEATURE 



INDUSTRY IMPLICATIONS 

The OpenStep announcement represents a fundamental shift in the industry align- 
ments over the future of object-oriented operating systems, ft has broad implica- 
tionsfor competitive operating-system vendors, hardware inanufecturers, standards 
bodies, independent software vendors, and technology users. 

Jheprmdpafsi Of course, Sun and NeXT are most affected by fte announcement 
NeXT receives a new lease on fife, a future strategy, and $10 miffion in the bank. 
Most importantly, the deal confirms NeXTs role as a technology leader in object- 
oriented application environments. The deal is a "big plus, a triple plus" tor 
NeXT, says Craig Sultan, an analyst with Montgomery Securities. 

Sun and its software subsidiary, SunSoft, are also big winners. Sun sells 20 
percent to 25 percent of its machines as software-development platforms, "ft is 
absolutely crucial to Sun to continue to be perceived as the leading platform tor 
software development," says David Card, director of advanced operating systems 
research for international Data Corporation. "People wont understand for a 
year how valuable this announcement is to Sun," Sultan adds, 

On the other hand, the deal was a loss for the group inside Sun that has been 
working on its own implementation of an application layer for Project DOE 
(Distributed Objects Everywhere). According to a source inside Sun 
management, 'there are lots of people at Sun for whom it i 
not good news." 

It is also a good deal for Canon, one of NeXTs large 
shareholders and a distributor of NeXT and Sun products 
in the Japanese market Sun's equity position in NeXT 
appears to protect or even increase the valuation of 
NeXT as a company. 

0$ competitors Prime targets of the announcement were 
the other object-oriented operating-system vendors. If 
OpenStep is supported as an object-oriented standard on a 
variety of UNIX workstations, ft puts greater pressure on 
Microsoft and Taligent to bring their products to market quickly. 

"OpenStep is a preemptive move against Taligent and Cairo, 
these, Taligent is most directly affected because they clearly operate in the same 
object space. Microsoft talks about objects, but Cairo is shaping up to be some- 
thing different," Card says. 

Taligent reacted cautiously, saying that its product will be "much more ad- 
vanced and comprehensive than NEXTSTEP," according to a spokeswoman. But 
Taligent was known to have been courting Sun strongly. "The girl they brought 
to the prom is dancing with another guy," says Jonathan Schwartz, president of 
Lighthouse Design. 

Microsoft did not react with words to the announcement Instead, ft an- 
nounced a new object-oriented initiative with DEC the following week. The irony 
of this move was not lost on several observers, including Sultan, who points out 
the fortuitous timing of the announcement. Besides, according to Card, Micro- 
soft's plans for Cairo are not really based on a pure object-oriented model and 
may therefore appeal to a slightly different customer base when released. 

Worteteffan manufacturers: This deal was directed against Sun's software rivals, 
not its hardware competitors such as HP, IBM, and DEC. Since OpenStep will be 
published as an open standard, any of these players could adopt OpenStep them- 
selves. In effect, OpenStep is one more optkm for these companies and adds com- 
petition to the marketplace for their operating-system dollars. "This deal is not 
a leg up on HP and IBM for Sun," says Card. 

HP, which has its own alliance with NeXT, issued a statement that ft is 





"pleased that NeXTs products will now be available to an even wider audience." 
ft also says it will folly support NeXTs OpenStep submission to standards bodies. 
Some observers see benefits for HP from the deal. "You could say that HP 
was out on a limb in the fniancial-services community with its support for NEXT- 
STEP. This deal validates their position," says Dwight Koop, director of informa- 
tion technology for Swiss Bank Corporation. And HP may potentially sign an 
equally strong deal with NeXT for a native OpenStep implementation. 

Standards organoationslhe OpenStep announcemerit overlaps tiie ongoing Com- 
mon Open Systems Environment (COSE} initiative, a process aimed at deriving a 
standard UNIX from multiple operating-system providers. While the Common 
Desktop Environment fCDE} represents a conseiisiisaniong COSE participants for 
the APIs of procedural applications, a coherent strategy for object-based applica- 
tions was conspicuously left for later discussion, 

According to Bud Tribble, vice-president of object products at SunSoft, "In 
the case of objects, we followed the COSE process with NeXT. The other COSE 
partners were notified," he says. When NeXT completes its OpenStep specifica- 
tion in June, ft will be submitted for approval to either the Object Management 
Group (OMG) or the X/Open consortium for approval. 

"Technically, it sounds pretly good, but there is a process for us to make 
a selection for our object operating-system standard," says Chris 
Stone, OMG's chairman, 

Card expects that OMG and X/Onen will need to do a 
balancing act with OpenStep and Tangent "OMGneedsto 
make compromises to get the most number of players 
involved, but Sun, despite its public commitment to 
openness, has, in the end, historically gone with the 
best technology. Sun win only bend so far to the com- 
promises that OMG is forced to make," he says. 

Independent software vendors NEXTSTEP commercial 
developers could hardly contain their enthusiasm for the 
deal. "This is the first unadulterated piece of good news in 
the NeXT community in the last four years. There is no downside 
at all," says Schwartz of Lighthouse Design. 
In a year, developers can port their applications to NEXTSTEP for SPARC and 
then port to OpenStep sometime after that Each port represents a larger poten- 
tial market In the meantime, NeXTs brighter future ahead will help with both 
current sales and financing. 

For Solaris developers, the deal creates a whole new market Companies 
publishing CDE applications will continue to enhance them, since CDE is sup- 
ported by numerous manufacturers, not just Sun. Also, much of Sun's customer 
base will continue to use CDE applications. On the other hand, developers inter- 
ested in gaining experience with Sun's new object-oriented strategy will likely 
begin to experiment with NEXTSTEP for Intel, since the OpenStep interlace (and 
undertving ccmceptsl wiB be iiearry identicai to MEXTSTIFs current imffenentatkm. 

Customers: Existing NeXT customers gain new options for future application 
deployment They gain access to Sun's foil line of hardware through the native 
NEXTSTEP port or SunSoft's future OpenStep product. Since Solaris is also des- 
tined for the PowerPC, NEXTSTEP users will also have the choice of those 
Motorola-based systems. 

When Solaris with OpenStep becomes available, Sun customers will have 
the option to adopt the new technology at their own pace. The future product 
will include OpenStep as one of three supported application environments. 

by Dan Lavik 





SIMSON00002045 



FEATURE 















Before joining SunSoft as vice-president of object products in June 1992, Guy 
L (Bud) Tribbie was a founder of NeXT and its leading software architect More 
than anyone, Tribbie is the visionary behind OpenStep. He is also the software 
manager charged with making it a reality. A team of NeXTWORLD editors inter- 
viewed Tribbie about the implications of the OpenStep announcement. 



NeXIWORLD;$\m evaluated various options before settling on the OpenStep 
strategy. What were those options, and why did you decide to go with NEXTSTEP? 

Bud Tribbie; For the past several years, Sun has had a distributed-object 
program called DOE, or Distributed Objects Everywhere. The piece of DOE 
that actually provides the application environment, as opposed to the infra- 
structure, is the piece where we had some alternatives. There were basically 
three options that we were looking at. One was to build something from 
scratch ourselves. Another was to go talk to Taligent, which is the other 
company developing things in this space, and the third was NeXT. 

What about Microsoft? 

Well, Microsoft is another company that has a strategy in this space with 
Cairo, and we considered that. What it came to for us was looking for some- 
thing that not only could fit into our distributed-object vision, but some- 
thing that already existed, that was out there shipping and was customer- 
tested. Typically, when things ship, it takes roughly 3.1 versions to get a 



In terms of timing Sun's OpenStep version of Solaris, or whatever the product will 
be called, is at least 18 months out Taligent ought to have some kind of product 
in that time frame as well. 

We actually haven't announced a date for OpenStep from SunSoft. We ex- 
pea to have a better road map available at our April developer conference, 
but I believe that we're going to be able to field a product - OpenStep on 
Solaris - that is actually a year or possibly two ahead of similar robusmess 
available from either Taligent or Microsoft. 

We're starting from something that's shipping today. OpenStep is not 
going to be a redesign of NEXTSTEP. It's going to be very close to NEXT- 
STEP 3.2 in how it works. 

Now, just to play devil's advocate, you could argue that NEXTSTEP was designed 
six or seven years ago. Something like a Taligent coming along today may be a 
generation ahead. 

You've got to get perspective on this whole thing. Objects were invented 
by Xerox in the 1970s, and some people actually go back as far as Ivan 
Sutherland in the 1960s. We're mining technology that was developed a 
while ago in terms of developing products that solve customers' needs. 

The big discontinuity is the object paradigm. NeXT is on the far side 
of that discontinuity today. Taligent and potentially Cairo, it's hard to say, 
will also attempt to be on the far side of that paradigm shift. Within that 




real product. I think Microsoft has proven that. We wanted something that 
had a time-to-market advantage. 

To what extent did your familiarity with NEXTSTEP play a role in the decision? 

That can be a double-edged sword. The closer you are to something, the 
more you can see what is good about it, as well as its blemishes. I would 
say our team did a good technical and business evaluation of each option. 

Keep in mind that the original project for distributed objects actually 
started within Sun Microsystems Labs - the research arm of Sun - more 
than five years ago. About two years ago, it moved from the research stage 
into the product stage. For the past two years, SunSoft has been working 
together with the Object Management Group (OMG) and the other com- 
panies in OMG to create an infrastructure for building systems out of dis- 
tributed objects. It's kind of a backplane that you can plug objects into such 
that they can cooperate in running a company over a network. 

The OpenStep technology adds the application framework. In other 
words, we've got this great infrastructure for having objects communicate 
over a network and for building distributed systems. But what are the APIs 
and what's the GUI and what are the components for building applications? 



shift there's going to be gradations, but I don't see there being huge, leap- 
frog, quantum differences between the various object systems. 

Another factor coming into play is that you will see more and more of 
the object systems out there gravitate around some of the OMG standards. 
You even see Microsoft now with OLE and Cairo kind of centering around 
that. And that's simply due to the fact that some level of commonality here 
is what's going to be necessary to actually create an ObjectWare industry 
as we go forward into this decade. 

Open standards 



What needs to happen for OpenStep to emerge as a broadly based standard in 
the industry? 

First, we need to write the specification down and take it forward to the 
appropriate standards bodies. There is nothing magic about the standards 
process. I do think it's important to realize that standards are necessary to 
enable an ObjectWare industry' at some point in the future. 

In terms of the technology itself, objects are at a fairly early stage. If you 
talk to people at OMG, when will they get around to standardizing the file 
choosers and such? Not for a while. They're standardizing from the infra- 



24 Wm& FEBRUARY 1994 



Photographs by Eric Millette 




SIM SON 00002046 



FEATURE 



structure on up. It's not going to be an overnight process. Nor should it be, 
because you don't want to put in stone a set of standards that turned out 
to be not the best way to do it. 

IsitaforepnerandusionftatOMGwilltakeOpenStepasFlsslaiHlanlTWhat 
about X/Open? 

We will be promoting OpenStep as a standard, but it is not a foregone con- 
clusion. One of the important things about standards if you go talk to OMG, 
for example, or X/Open, which is emerging as the standards body that's in- 
terested in some of the COSE efforts, is that they will refuse to standardize 
something unless a proven implementation exists. So you have to ask the 
question, are there competing standards out there for objects or for object- 
application environments? Today, there really aren't any. 

Aside from some standards organization stamping something, what's realty nec- 
essary is market acceptance of a product Do you expect to see other compa- 
nies that have been associated wrft the COSE process step fonvard and adopt 
OpenStep? 

I expect to see that happen, and I think that, over the course of the next 
year, we will see significant movement there. Both NeXT and Sun will 
encourage that within the industry and among our own partners. 

Do you think Hewlett-Packard will step up with the kind of commitment mat 
SunSoft has made? 

That's hard to say. We would certainly welcome that. As you know, HP 
has already made an endorsement of NEXTSTEP, and we would have to 
talk to them about whether they would increase their endorsement. 

Ins and outs of OpenStep 

Moving on to the future OpenStep product, could you help us understand what 
exactly it is, and what it will look like? 

Let me give you the context. The application environment that we ship 
today - OpenWindows, soon to become the Common Desktop Environ- 
ment (CDE) - is a procedural environment. We believe that we will be ship- 
ping that procedural environment through the end of the century and 
probably beyond. We have customers who have either lots of legacy stuff 
or no desire to retrain for objects. 

But we also need a solution for customers who do want to shift to the 
object paradigm. We don't have that today, so we're adding the OpenStep 
standard. Now, instead of one application environment, there are two. In 
fact, there are three, counting WABI (Windows Application Binary Interface). 

It's like this. If you write apps to the Windows API, they run on Solaris 
in the WABI environment. If you write apps to the procedural environment, 
they run in the CDE environment. If you write them to the object environ- 
ment, they run in the OpenStep environment. 

Now it may be that the dominant personality for someone is CDE, and 
they never run WABI, and they never run OpenStep. Or it may that the 
dominant personality for someone is OpenStep, and they don't bother run- 
ning WABI or CDE. What we have to do is make sure that there is smooth 
interoperability. I need to have all these windows on the screen at the same 
time and be able to cut, copy, and paste between them. 

Which environment will the user see? Does OpenStep include the Dock? 

If you're in a CDE-dominant environment, it'll basically look like CDE, but 
you will be able to run Windows apps and OpenStep apps. If you're in the 
OpenStep environment, you'll basically see the NEXTSTEP environment, 
including the Dock. 

Now, over time, we may be able to have a Dock concept that spans 
both environments, and maybe even the Windows environment. There's 



nothing technically that says you can't do that. And that would actually 
make users' lives that much smoother. We wish probably that these differ- 
ent personalities all had exactly the same GUIs, but we live in a real world. 

It is similar to IBM's situation, where you've got an OS/2 personality 
and a Windows personality and, someday in the future, you'll have a Tali- 
gent personality. 

But me key point is that you will get OpenStep with every shipped copy of Solaris. 

You get Solaris and you get the whole thing. Clearly, there are installation 
options. You can decide to install one thing or another. 

For third-parly developers, both NEXTSTEP and Solaris, what do you recommend 
they do today? 

Clearly, NEXTSTEP developers should not only keep developing, but they 
should feel better about it. As for our CDE developers, we are not saying 
they should all switch to NEXTSTEP today. In fact, if they want revenue 
today, Sun's current developers should keep building CDE applications. 
What we'll find is that more and more people will convert over time. Ini- 
tially, that will probably be more the in-house developers than the inde- 
pendent software vendors. 

And in the longer term? 

There will be early adopters, starting now, who are very interested in objects 
and will see the benefit of moving to that paradigm. But the bulk of cus- 
tomers will probably stay with the procedural environment. Over time, more 
people will move to OpenStep, and, by the end of this decade, more peo- 
ple will be using objects than the procedural environment. You'll have peo- 
ple who are at one end of the spectrum and people who are at the other 
end of the spectrum. 

Kernel vision 

Can you clarify which parts of NEXTSTEP are included in OpenStep? What about 
elements like 3DKK and RenderMan? 

The OpenStep spec will include, if not every NEXTSTEP API, a robust 
enough set that 90 percent of the applications that are written today can 
run on top of what we define as the OpenStep spec. 

You have to realize that NeXT is an evolving system, and some pieces 
of the system are more mature and customer-tested than other pieces. Clearly, 
the parts that we're most interested in are the parts where customers have 
actually used them to develop mission-critical apps. If there's something 
that is more recent and hasn't really been used, it would perhaps not find 
its way into the OpenStep spec. There may also be a few cases where we 
work on parts where people want to see enhancements or changes. 



How difficult is it technically to take those parts of NEXTSTEP and integrate 
them with Project DOE? 

We don't see that as a very big difficulty. One of the aspects of DOE and 
the OMG CORBA specification in general is that it was designed to be 
very general and to accommodate a variety of object models. We see a 
pretty' good fit there with NEXTSTEP technology. 

Okay, but there are some differences. What about the issue of NeXTs use of 
Objective-C as opposed to C++? 

The OpenStep APIs are today defined in terms of Objective-C SunSoft 
will support Objective-C as another language offering. Many apps are 
written even today where part of the app uses Objective-C and other parts 
use C++. With Improv, for example, the back end is in C++, and the GUI 
part was in Objective-C, 

Part of our vision with OMG is that you raise objects » Page 34 






SIMSON00002047 



EVELOPER CAMP 






Qor those of you who haven't upgraded to 3.2 yet, zgrep is a new 
program in /usr/bin that wasn't part of the 3.1 release. Unfor- 
tunately, those of you who have upgraded will discover mat zgrep 
doesn't come with any documentation - NeXT has left us on our 
own. Being the adventurous hacker that I am, I bravely typed "zgrep" at the 
Terminal prompt and got this helpful message: 

% zgrep 

grep through gzip files 

usage: zgrep [grep_options] pattern [files] 

Oh, so that explains it: zgrep greps through gzip hies. Fortunately, NEXT- 
STEP 3.2 includes on-line documentation for . — - — . — ■— - — ~.—~~»^ 
both grep and gzip. (The man page for gzip 
was somehow not included in NEXTSTEP 3.1.) 

To be fair, NEXTSTEP 3.2 is, on the whole, 
better documented than 3.1 ever was. There 
are only 27 commands in the 3.2 /bin and 
/usr/bin directories for which NeXT didn't 
provide man pages (a substantial improvement 
over 3.1). Most of 3.2's mysteries, such as 
zgrep, are fairly obvious. NeXT has even started 
to document commands like lipo, which it 
wrote to support fat binaries. Unfortunately, 
the usage, options, and magical incantations 
needed for other new or arcane commands remain a mystery. 

Any operating-system vendor can grab the latest utilities from the Free 
Software Foundation (FSF), throw the commands in /bin and their documen- 
tation into /usr/man, and call it a "state-of-the-art operating-system soft- 
ware." To NeXT's credit, the company's developers are actually making 
advancements in the underlying operating system as well (features like fat 
binaries and Driver Kit fall into this category). But unlike the FSF, which val- 
ues documentation as highly as code development, NeXT seems to let docu- 



From 
A to "zgrep" 



L. G 



mentation take a backseat to hacking. 

I've raised the issue of documentation with NeXT many times in the 
past. According to Rick Jackson, NeXT's director of product marketing, 
the company can only allocate a certain amount of people to technical pub- 
lications, "given NeXT's limited resources." NeXT has also specifically 
chosen not to document some aspects of its operating system, such as Inter- 
faceBiulder's internal file format and the API for applications like Mail and 
ProjectBuilder, so that the company doesn't get locked into supporting devel- 
opers who write code that requires particular file formats or object calls. 
The flaw with this argument is that the FSF isn't exactly overflowing 

with cash itself, yet it manages to ship detailed 
and accurate documentation concurrently 
with its utilities and application programs. 
The real difference between how NeXT 
and the FSF handle documentation is that 
NeXT views documentation as an afterthought, 
a nice-to-have, something that is fundamen- 
tally not as important as the underlying code, 
The FSF, on the other hand, views documen- 
tation as an essential ingredient in the product 
mix. You can't effectively use an application 
or an operating system unless you have clear, 
concise documentation that explains it. 



There is a hidden benefit to good documentation. When programmers 
are forced to sit down, go through their code, and write about how it works, 
they frequently find bugs that were not uncovered during development or 
testing. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why the FSF generally produces 
more reliable code than the hackers in Redwood City. $ 



S i M s o N L . G A R F i n k e L is the senior contributing editor to 
NeXTWORLD. 



NeXT AND HEWLET 
DELIVER THE POWER OF ORJEC 



Financial services is an industry in which time is critically important. 

Here, where every second can mean the difference between profit and loss, 
some companies have already harnessed the power of software objects in select 
departments to stay ahead of rapidly changing markets. 

Now NeXT and Hewlett-Packard together offer a suite of business solutions 
that spread this power throughout the entire enterprise. 

ANNOUNCING OBJECT* ENTERPRISE. 

Object-Enterprise combines the strengths of two technology leaders to offer 
what no one company can: a unified enterprise-wide information system based 
entirely on object-oriented software. 

In a time-conscious business such as a brokerage firm, this type of system 
offers an irrefutable advantage. Because it allows a new generation of financial 
applications to be developed and deployed at every level of the organization — 
with radically greater speed. 

Object-Enterprise brings NEXTSTEP™ software to a full spectrum of Hewlett- 
Packard hardware, from PCs to workstations, with full support for NEXTSTEP 
objects on business servers. The result is a seamless and scalable system that 
offers a true competitive advantage. 

NEXTSTEP: '.'..PROBABLY THE MOST RESPECTED 
PIECE OF SOFTWARE ON THE PLANET. " 

The opinion is from Byte Magazine. The fact is, NEXTSTEP is without rival as 
the only shipping object-oriented user and development environment. 

Many Wall Street traders are already reaping the benefits of this technology, 
deploying complex custom applications in months instead of years. 

That's because NEXTSTEP allows applications to be constructed in a modular 




SIMSON00002048 



E X T INK 



So far, the phones are silent in the developer-relations departments 
of Sun and NeXT. There has been no rush of NeXT developers 
joining Catalyst, Sun's registered-developer program, nor a wave 
of Sun developers inquiring about NeXT's programs. 

At first blush, there appears to be no hurry. The SPARC port is nine 
months out, and true Solaris integration is probably 18 or more months away 

But from a business standpoint, both NeXT and Sun developers should 
start investing in the future right now. The lag before products get to mar- 
ket is critical preparation time that will allow both camps to get a head 
start on Johnny-come-latelies. 

Sun developers and consultants should 
realize that it takes a year to create a decent 
NEXTSTEP programmer. And it can take up to 
two years for a team to gel and start creating 
large-scale applications. Part of this process is 
fully understanding object-oriented program- 
ming, and part is learning NEXTSTEP. Since 
most Sun developers are not doing any sort of 
object-oriented work, they can't skip this step. 

No, the whole Sun market won't embrace 
NEXTSTEP in two years. But a large percentage 
of your most important clients will embrace 
it. The Sun-NeXT deal was driven by customer 

demands from extremely high-margin accounts. These are the folks who pay 
the most for consulting and care about functionality - not the price tag for 
shrinkwrapped applications. 

After all, do you want to sell software in the object market at high prices 
and margins as part of custom solutions, or do you want to compete with a 
$49 Quattro for SPARC at Egghead when the CDE space opens up in 1996? 

Remember also that Sun's version of OpenStep may only be the tip of 

the iceberg. HP, IBM, and DEC might very well join this bandwagon, mak- Dan L a v i n comments on business issues in NeXT Ink. 



Start 

Now! 



Dan L a v i 



ing possible a relatively painless object-oriented cross-platform strategy. 

To be a player in object-oriented consulting and applications in 1995 
and beyond, pick up a copy of NEXTSTEP today. Start by producing a few 
small applications. They'll get your feet wet and may even pay for your 
"training program." Go to your current large clients who also use NEXT- 
STEP and ask them what they would like you to develop. Join NeXT's Reg- 
istered Developer Program and send some people to training. 

You could even start porting your large-scale apps or rewriting them to 
NEXTSTEP. It appears likely that you can then move them to OpenStep 
pretty easily from that point - perhaps even a recompile will do the trick. 

Likewise, NeXT developers and consul- 
tants should start to learn about the Sun envi- 
ronment. Join Catalyst, find out about the mar- 
ket, and figure out who the customers are. 

Networking, communications, and sys- 
tem-administration developers and consultants 
better start to learn Solaris, pronto. OpenStep 
is only the top layer, the application-develop- 
ment piece. You will need to climb the learn- 
ing curve on lower-level issues, and you need 
to start now. If that large trading firm aban- 
dons Netlnfo completely, well, it might be 
best to have a new skill set to avoid being 
locked out by more savvy competitors. 

The good news is that customers for object-oriented systems are willing 
to pay big bucks for knowledgeable consultants and polished applications. 
These are smart customers at the high end who hire smart people. If you 
don't act now to upgrade your skill set, you may be out in the cold when 
the products start to hit the market. $ 



'ACKARDNOW 

IN AN ENTERPRISE-WIDE SCALE. 




fashion, using software objects as building blocks. These objects, easily re-used 
and maintained, take the place of complicated and error-prone computer code. 
While the rest of the computer industry is still years away from implementing 
an object-oriented system. NEXTSTEP is here today. Polished and perfected in 
its third release 

AN OBJECTIVE POINT OF VIEW, FROM DESKTOPTQ DATA CENTER. 

Hewlett-Packard has long led the drive toward interoperability and object 
computing, offering a scalable hardware architecture from client desktop to 
the enterprise-wide data center. 

With a family of products including Intel* 486-based Vectra PCs, PA-RISC 
workstations and business servers, Hewlett-Packard delivers leading technology 
at all levels. Along with quality engineering and rock-solid service and support. 

By joining in Object-Enterprise with NeXT, Hewlett-Packard is redefining the 
level of performance you can expect from an advanced trading system. And its 
industry-standard hardware provides the assurance that Object-Enterprise will 
integrate seamlessly with your existing investments. 

SEE HEWLETT-PACKARD AND NeXT NOW IN CONCERT 

Object'Enterprise gives you one point of contact to tap the collective power of 
Hewlett-Packard and NeXT. And we do encourage you to make contact. 

Just call us at 1-800-TRY-NeXT We can supply you with more information, 
and reserve seats at an upcoming Object-Enterprise seminar in your area. (We'll 
be conducting seminars throughout the country in 1994.) 

We think it will be a day well spent. And we're keenly aware of how valuable 
your time can be. 



H 



HEWLETT 
PACKARD 




SIMSON00002049 






REVIEWS 


















Charting Done Right 

Three new apps deliver presentation 
graphics NEXTSTEP -style 




by S E T H ROSS 

eamless integration. 
That has been the 
promise of NEXT- 
STEP from the start. 
Instead of relying on 
monolithic applications that include 
everything and the kitchen sink, 
NEXTSTEP users could assemble 
slim, modular, single-purpose apps 
into integrated environments. 

Three independent software ven- 
dors have delivered on this promise 
in the charting and graphing category 
with CHaRTSMITH from BLaCK- 
SMITH, GraphRight from Water- 
shed Technologies, and Graphity from 
Xanthus International. 

On other platforms, graphing 
functions are often wrapped into gar- 
gantuan spreadsheet programs, and 
their design philosophy is based on 
coding in as many features as possi- 



CHaRTSMITH 1.0 



• # % % 4 



$495 

BLaCKSMlT) 
litigt6Hi VA 221(> 

, i.'.J/.iZ'f-: ■ i.1 ,;«. . 




ble. All three of these apps, however, 
support numerous ways to suck in 
graphing data from spreadsheets 
and word processors, including the 
Services menu, cutting and pasting, 
dragging and dropping, and object 
linking. Two of the apps, Graph- 
Right and Graphity, include APIs that 
allow developers of custom applica- 
tions to integrate graphing functions 
into their apps. A new version of 
CHaRTSMITH should include an 
API by the time you read this review, 
according to BLaCKSMITH. 

We used these apps to create a 
wide variety of graphs from a vari- 



ety of sources. Our focus was on the 
kind of business graphics useful for 
reporting functions, though any of 
the three could easily be applied to 
other data-analysis and presentation 
tasks. All three can create graphs in 
an array of standard formats: bar, 
line, high/low, high/low/open/close, 
area, pie, X/Y, and scatter. 

All three give you complete con- 
trol over the presentation of graphs, 
including all of the major elements of 
graph anatomy: titles, subtitles, the 
x- and y-axis, major and minor ticks, 
grid legends, backgrounds, and so 
forth. All three also allow you to ex- 
port graphs as either EPS or TIFF 
images. All three can serve as the 
source, as well as the target, of ob- 
ject links, so you can embed your 
graph in a word-processing document 
and watch it automatically update 
as you make changes. 

An aesthetic experience 

From the perspective of the main- 
stream business user, CHaRTSMITH 
is the most attractive app in this 
roundup. Like the classic NEXT- 
STEP apps produced by Lighthouse 
Design and Millennium Labs, it 
sports an interface that is elegant in 
its simplicity. Using CHaRTSMITH 
can be an aesthetic experience. 

There are three main compo- 
nents to the CHaRTSMTrH interface: 
the Chart Window, the Data View 
Window, and the Inspector. After an 
import (an easy task using the Ser- 
vices menu), the newly imported data 
appears in the Data View Window, 
which looks like a standard work- 
sheet. Unlike a spreadsheet table, 
however, the Data View Window 
doesn't let you manipulate the data 
with formulas or summaries. By de- 
fault, CHaRTSMITH will apply your 
preferred graph type to each series 
or column of data. 

On the right side of the Data 
View Window is a slider containing 
mini icons (for the major types of 
graphs) and buttons that allow you 



to switch between graph families (bar, 
pie, or X/Y). Combining different 
types of graph series (for example, a 
line with a bar) and switching between 
graph families are both a snap. 

The Chart Window displays 
graphs. To its left lies an ingenious 
Navigator that presents framed 
thumbnails of graphs. The Naviga- 
tor will seem familiar to users of 
Lighthouse Design's Concurrence. It 
provides a simple and intuitive way 
to move from graph to graph: just 
click a thumbnail, and the selected 



Alas, the version of CHaRT- 
SMITH used for this review is not 
perfect. Call me a traditionalist, but 
a $495 shrinkwrapped app should 
come with printed docs. Also, Ver- 
sion 1.0 doesn't have an API, a major 
disadvantage for custom-app hack- 
ers who would rather buy an app 
than code a graphing module from 
scratch. BLaCKSMITH promises 
both printed docs and an API for the 
1.1 release, which is scheduled for 
February. Assuming it addresses these 
deficiencies, CHaRTSMITH is rec- 




CHaRTSMITH's Navigator provides thumbnails that make it easy to move from graph to graph. 



graph is displayed. 

CHaRTSMUH's modal Inspec- 
tor panel gives you complete control 
over a graph in an intuitive, nested 
fashion, making it easy to groom the 
presentation of graphs. Click the part 
you want to change, and the Inspec- 
tor displays the relevant set of con- 
trols. CHaRTSMITH supports a wide 
array of special effects, including dif- 
ferent kinds of graded fills, text shad- 
ows, and simple 3-D renderings. 



GraphRight 1.1 



# $ $ $ 



ise 

m 



mmemam 
$399 

W,Ui'r. h' 

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ommended without reservation. 

Slide ruler required 

GraphRight comes from a firm that 
knows graphs. Watershed Technolo- 
gies is a defense contractor special- 
izing in computational fluid dynamics 
and graphic visualization. Its expe- 
rience shows in this first product. 

GraphRight matches CHaRT- 
SMITH feature by feature and ups 
the ante by allowing you to depict a 
variety of statistical trends. Graph- 
Right is the only app of the three 
reviewed here that can automatically 
calculate and display the standard 
error and standard deviation of a 
given data set. It can also plot regres- 
sion lines. While it's possible to perform 
statistical analysis in a spreadsheet 
program prior to importing data, it's 
handy to have the ability to do it on 
the fly during a graphing session. 

Like CHaRTSMITH, the Graph- 
Right interface is divided into three 
parts: a Data Table, a Chart Viewer, 
and a pair of inspectors, one for data 




SIMSON00002050 



REVIEWS 



and one for graphs. While Graph- 
Right does a good job of making the 
program's controls easily accessible, 
it lacks the spit and polish exempli- 
fied by CHaRTSMITH's Navigator. 
A pop-up menu in the worksheet- 
Eke Data Table can bring up differ- 
ent graphs. The Chart window is a 
simple blank page that can accept 
more than one graph at a time. 



GraphHy 1.0 


♦ ♦ % $ 




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sophisticated mul- 


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$395 




$-161 02 8 ?'{)-';' 


IPX). Box 20161 , 







Like its competitors, GraphRight 
enables you to import data in a vari- 
ety of ways, including from the Ser- 
vices menu. But it's not as smooth 
as CHaRTSMTTH. Its Services menu 
feature does not let you specify up 
front the kind of graph you want. 
Nor could we specify whether or not 
the data contained labels, forcing us 
to reinput the labels of each import- 
ed set of data. 

GraphRight seems reliable, 
though we got stuck once. Whenever 
we decreased the range using the 
Axis button on the inspector, Graph- 
Right returned an error message: 
"Entered Maximum is less than Max- 
imum of Data." But it wasn't. 

As this review was compiled, 
GraphRight lacked decent documen- 
tation. The 58-page printed manual 
is only moderately useful and lacks 
basic amenities like an index. The 
on-line help is next to useless. 

None of the problems with the 
app affect its fundamental usability 
and usefulness, which is extended by 
an API for custom-app coders to hack 
on. With a few bug fixes and pack- 
aging improvements, it will be the 
graphing app of choice for scientific 
and engineering users who can make 
use of the program's statistical fea- 
tures and API. 



Graphing on steroids 

With Graphity, Xanthus took the 
basic graphing-app model and added 
an array of features that redefine the 
genre. Those familiar with the Swedish 
software house's other feature-laden 
apps will feel right at home. 

Graphity 's interface is quite dif- 
ferent. In addition to the normal 
features common to the other prod- 
ucts, it includes a ToolBox, a Prefer- 
ences-like panel with a string of 
tool buttons from which to choose. 
The ToolBox expands the mean- 
ing of the word graph. It contains 
palettes from which you can drag 
objects into documents. One palette 
allows you to drag commonly used 
graphs or graph templates into doc- 
uments. Another lets you drag a 
primitive word processor into docu- 
ments. Other ToolBox tools allow you 
to maintain sound and image librar- 
ies, all of which can be dropped into 
graphs at will. 

With Graphity, graphs can in- 
clude other graphs, text files, sounds, 
and images. Users can transform a 
simple graph into an elaborate mul- 
timedia presentation. 

Graphity's sexiest feature is the 
ability to harness NEXTSTEP'S built- 
in RenderMan facilities to create 3-D 
graphs. In the right hands, Graphity 




Graphity taps into NEXTSTEP'S RenderMan facilities to let users create 3-D graphs. Note that 
the 3-D graph attains photorealistic qualities when printed. 

Man engine that we've seen outside difficult to master of the three in this 
of dedicated 3-D programs. review. It's not immediately clear 
Of course, there are pitfalls in- which Inspector items to use to con- 
volved with 3-D graphing. With all trol any given graph element. Nor 
the power of RenderMan at your is the relationship between the Tool- 
disposal, there's one more dimension Box and the Inspector clearly delin- 
in which to commit fatal design errors, eated. In fact, there's even some 
Also, rendering is slow, slow, slow, redundancy between the two: Either 
even on the fastest NEXTSTEP hard- can be used to control the width and 
ware. 3-D fanatics will have to wait 



for serious HP or Sun iron before 
3-D graphing becomes a deadline- 
can be used to create spectacular 3-D friendly process. Graphity amelio- 
data visualizations. A modal Inspec- rates this situation by allowing you 
tor allows you to rotate and scale to either work in wire mode or turn 
3-D graph elements, define surface off 3-D screen drawing altogether, 
shaders, camera aspect, and various Naturally, there is a penalty 




GraphRight rapidly calculates and displays statistical information like regression lines. 

light sources. This is first practical associated with Graphity's expanded 
application of NEXTSTEP'S Render- functionality. The app is the most 



fill of a line, for example. 

Graphity ships in the most pro- 
fessional packaging of the three apps. 
It comes with a 133-page manual, 
as well as complete on-line help. Like 
GraphRight, it includes an API for 
custom-app developers. Unlike 
GraphRight, Graphity's API is well 
documented in hard copy. 

The data points 

NEXTSTEP users have a hoard of 
riches from which to choose in the 
domain of graphing applications. 
CHaRTSMTTH is the tool of choice 
for business users because of its ele- 
gant interface and approachability. 
Given minor packaging improve- 
ment, GraphRight should be a hit for 
scientific and engineering users who 
can take advantage of its statistics 
abilities and API. Graphity stands as 
a testament to the power user: Those 
who wish to push the envelope of 
graphing capabilities should approach 
the app prepared for serious fun. £ 

Seth Ross isaNeXTWORLD 

contributing editor and publisher 
of San Francisco-based Albion 
Books. 



SIMSON00002051 






REVIEWS 



Coming of Age 







etroTools does an 
excellent job of plug- 
ging the holes in the 
NEXTSTEP environ- 
ment by providing sev- 
eral important missing tools, among 
them a Dock extender, a screen saver, 
font and sound importers, a file lo- 
cate^ and an archiver. Included in this 
package are several modules that 
would make strong utilities if released 
on their own. The fact that they are 
all included in a package that sells 
for $89 makes MetroTools an incred- 
ible bargain. The software has evolved 
and is now mature in its 2,1 release. 
The Dock extender in Metro- 
Tools has developed into one of the 
most powerful on the platform. With 
Engage! taking on a desktop met- 
aphor in its most recent incarnation, 
the MetroTools AppLauncher is also 
the closest in both concept and exe- 
cution to NeXT's original Dock, and 
takes the concept to its logical con- 
clusion. You can choose to extend 



the existing Dock with hierarchical 
subdocks, separate horizontal or ver- 
tical docks anywhere on the screen, 
or hide the Dock completely and 
bring it up later with a click. App- 
Launcher docks can also contain 
files, folders, and UMX shell scripts, 
serving as a replacement for the Shelf. 
NiteLite is reminiscent of After- 
Dark, the popular screen saver for 
the Mac and Windows. The included 
modules, with the exception of a full- 



MetroTools 2.1 



$ t • f 

The- latest version of Melrosoft's utility 
packagers a wiipier with feaUmmkawx? 
ments, tntprbifed performance, support 
fot mixed netivorh of black and white 

computers, and an extended API that 
opens up the app. 

Meirmoft,710 IMrSt BMJan Diegi 
CA 92UU, 6191488 9411rwf&@tmt- 

wsoft.cowu. '-'. "'•■-*>' 




MetroTools enlivens a workspace with screen 
savers, backdrops, and customizable docks. 

featured clock that includes audible 
voice alerts, are merely adequate and 
lack the entertainment value of the 
flying toasters and fireworks found 
on other platforms. Luckily, NiteLite 
can use the many modules written 
for the popular but not fully featured 
Backspace shareware utility. NiteLite 
modules can be run either as screen 
savers or as backdrops. Any screen 
saver can lock the screen until you 
supply your login password. An API 
is available for writing your own 
screen savers, but we'd like to see the 
capability to import AfterDark 
modules, much as you can import 
sounds and fonts. 

The other tools, while not as 
flashy, provide important compati- 



bility features, such as the ability to 
import Macintosh sounds and fonts 
into the NEXTSTEP environment. 
The file locater and the archiver are 
icing on the cake. 

With Version 2.1, MetroTools 
becomes network savvy, with new 
features for mixed networks that 
contain both NeXT and Intel com- 
puters. Loading MetroTools from a 
network server is much faster than 
in previous versions. 

While providing a fun and func- 
tional package for end users, Met- 
rosoft hasn't forgotten the developers. 
MetroTools has always provided 
the ability to write your own screen 
savers, but now you can use its new 
API kit to put a slick NEXTSTEP 
front end on your own utilities. Util- 
ities that you develop will appear 
within the MetroTools application 
complete with integrated on-line help. 

Metrosoft has continued to im- 
prove its flagship product, while sup- 
porting its users with free upgrades. 
We look forward to the continuing 
evolution of MetroTools. £ 

by Lee Sherman 



Data But No Base 




Me NEXTSTEP comes 
with free DBKit adapt- 
ers for Oracle and 

Sybase, the $5000 to 
$20,000 cost of the 
databases themselves places them out 
of reach for all but the most commit- 
ted developers. Many NeXT pro- 
grammers interested in experimenting 
with DBKit simply can't afford to 
shell out big dollars to decide if DBKit 
is the right choice. Now, thanks to 
VNP Software, they don't have to. 
LXAdaptor is a DBKit adapter 
that doesn't need a database. Instead 
of connecting over a network to an 
Oracle or Sybase server, IXAdaptor 
stores its data locally in the UNIX 
file system using the NEXTSTEP In- 
dexing Kit. This is the same database 
engine used by Stone Design's Data- 
Phile, and IXKit offers similar per- 
formance and operational restrictions. 
IXKit is designed for single-user 
database applications. It's ideal for 
developing a database app or simply 

30 Hmmm FEBRUARY 1994 



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IXAdaptor uses the standard NEXTSTEP 
DBWIodeler to create database schema. 

learning the ins and outs of DBKit. 
To create a database for IX- 
Adaptor, you simply build a DBMod- 
el with NeXT's DBModeler. For the 
database "Login String," you sup- 
ply the name of the file in which the 
database resides. When you first use 
the database with InterfaceBuilder, 
IXAdaptor asks you if you want to 
create the database. The adapter 
automatically indexes for any attri- 
bute designated as a primary key or 



specified in a relationship. 

In addition to supporting all of 
the features required by DBKit, IX- 
Adaptor also provides the four basic 
SQL verbs: SELECT, UPDATE, IN- 
SERT, and DELETE. But IXAdaptor 
offers only a single level of transac- 
tion protection, which means that 
once you issue a BEGIN TRANSAC- 
TION command to protect a series of 
statements, you cannot have a sec- 
ond nested transaction. In practice, this 
limitation is only a problem when pro- 
gramming directly in SQL, since DB- 
Kit never attempts to nest transactions. 

IXAdaptor comes with a single 
administrative tool, IXATool, which 



IXAdaptor 1.0 



$ $ $ ' : 

A bare-boms DBKit adap 

to NcXTs Indexing kit. 

■ user applications ofatiK 



.grmrmen learnv 
' $245 peruser- '.. 

VNPSofotureJOAGi 

MA 02139,802/4%-" 
fm;'JXAikptorJnfo% 
copy, IXAdaptor J)et 



BKit 



7t€T 



will either dump the contents of an 
IXAdaptor database into a dump 
file or load a dump file back into a 
database. The dump-file format is a 
series of SQL statements that should 
make it easy to move an IXAdaptor 
database into a client-server system 
if you need to. In many applications, 
however, IXAdaptor is probably 
faster than a client-server system, and 
the data is stored locally. IXAdaptor 
handles blobs the same way as 
Sybase. The adapter should not be 
used over NFS; it is not thread-safe. 

IXAdaptor provides no secu- 
rity other than what is provided by 
the UNIX file system to store the 
actual database file. And if you want 
several users to access a database 
simultaneously - even if only one of 
them is going to be actually writing 
data - you can't use IXKit unless you 
write your own database server. 

Documentation is a bit on the 
skimpy side, and installation, during 
which a symbolic link is created in 
the user's -/Library/Adaptors direc- 
tory, can go awry. 

by Simson L. Garfinkel 




SIMSON00002052 



h as the ability to 
sounds and fonts 
EP environment, 
d the archiver are 

2.1, MetroTools 
savvy, with new 
i networks that 
T and Intel com- 
letroTools from a 
Tiuch faster than 
is. 

lg a fun and func- 
end users, Met- 
ten the developers. 
ways provided 
: your own screen 
>u can use its new 
ick NEXTSTEP 
own utilities. Util- 
lop will appear 
Tools application 
;rated on-line help, 
continued to im- 
roduct, while sup- 
ith free upgrades, 
to the continuing 
dTooIs. $ 



le contents of an 
ise into a dump 
p file back into a 
ip-file format is a 
ments that should 
ve an LXAdaptor 
ait-server system 
lany applications, 
tor is probably 
server system, and 
xally. IXAdaptor 
; same way as 
ter should not be 
s not thread-safe, 
"ovides no secu- 
lat is provided by 
tern to store the 
■.And if you want 
:cess a database 
ven if only one of 
actually writing 
t DQGt unless you 
tabase server. 
>n is a bit on the 
istallation, during 
ink is created in 
y/ Adaptors direc- 

Garfinkel 




SIMSON00002053 



Il 



UFE 



TO CERTAIN COMPANIES, ChOOSin^ 

an object-oriented system years 
before it's available from the 
industry giants seems like a risk. 

To others, though, passing up 
a compelling competitive advantage 
presents a far more dangerous risk. 
So they use NEXTSTEP 15 ' for Intel® 







program functions. So there's no 
danger of breaking an application 
when all you want to do is update 
a single function. This structure 
allows you to evolve your custom 
applications to quickly exploit new 
business opportunities, since it 
lets you leverage past efforts by 



Processors— the first and only nextstep wnsems jmr most valuable resource, reusing or modifying objects 

operating system and development environment you know to be tried and true. 

optimized for objects from top to bottom. Even before you start to build a custom 






It's really the soft- 
ware equivalent of the 
Industrial Revolution. 



THE OBJECT IS 



application in 
already finishe 
a library of obj 
ofthefunctior 
most program 
text editing, p 
graphics, cole 
Our Inter! 
more than mi 
an ordinary " 
complex ente 



Just as modern factories allowed products to be 
built from prefabricated component parts instead 





J 



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Object-oriented 

NEXTSTEP 

applications work 

like most 

organizations 

do. Each 

object has a 

function, and 

can message 

anotherfor 

information or 

processing kelp. 



of beinj 



r\ 







custom 
j0H built by 



hand, 
0hj object- 
orientation 



lets developers build complex applications by 
using prebuilt software components. The result — 
mission-critical custom applications that can be 
developed up to ten times faster. 

Every NEXTSTEP application is comprised of 
independent and easily accessible objects that 
encapsulate both the code and data for individual 



■■■■. .;-.;,■ ■ ■ ■■-■. 





SIMSON00002054 



i the ability to 
inds and fonts 
environment. 



REVIEWS 



1 



Monitor Importance 



Box Score User 



System desfen 



5o there's no 
in application 
1 do is update 
lis structure 
your custom 
;ly exploit new 
es, since it 
st efforts by 
ng objects 

:ustom 



i application in NEXTSTER much of your work is manipulating real objects and not just images. You 
already finished. Because NEXTSTEP comes with can even add new objects which are automatically 
a library of objects representing over 80% ^^3ES recognized by the system. NEXTSTEP 
of the functionality that is common to 



most programs— including objects for 
text editing, printing, faxing, sound, 3D 
graphics, color selection and more, 




also comes with object kits such as the 
Database Kit""' which lets you assemble 
data-intensive applications without 
worrying about how your database is 



Our Interface Builder"' gives you much ^^f^^^L structured. Simply connect your custom 



! 



common to most programs, 

more than mere prototyping tools. Unlike from printing to taxing. 



application to an "adapter" object (Oracle 



an ordinary "screen painter; it lets you construct and Sybase adapters are includedjand itjust works, 
complex enterprise applications graphically, NEXTSTEP, however, is only the tip of the object 



ER DEVELOPMENT 




iceberg. Because it 
offers so many rich 
opportunities for new, 



more sophisticated software, it's already spawned 
an entirely new industry: ObjectWareT 

There are now over 1400 NEXTSTEP objects 
available from more than a hundred object vendors. 
So when you write NEXTSTEP applications, you 
have fast access to pre-wntten, rock-solid objects 
for an exciting world of advanced functions, from 
text-to-speech to data feed and bar codes. 

Of course, faster and better ways to develop 
don't mean much unless 
you can distribute your 

a p P 1 1 Catl n S th rO Ugh - \Y e p m ,jd e okjects ana '/tools for building 

advanced clkntjserver applications, and 
OUt yOU r COm pa ny. support for Objective C. C++ andANSI a 

So stay with us for just a few pages more. We 
promise to make this fast. 




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TO BUILD A CUSTOM CLIENT/SERVER SYSTEM, you 




NEXTSTEP lets you deploy the benefits of object Because the sys 
would normally pick an operating system and then technology throughout your organization, it doesn't common to all a 
go scavenging for the development tools to make it make you sacrifice even one of your standards. . interface remair 
work. NEXTSTEP offers a new approach. In one Built upon a solid, robust foundation of UNIX? application to a| 

shnnkwrapped box, you get one K^^™^/^ NEXTSTEP integrates the ware integrates 
unified environment, including 2^™"" % desktop completely, allowing, NEXTSTEP pror 

,. , , across the entire enterprise., a t* t „ 

mg system, development frm^^pmdmmm. J ^ X, Windows, MS-DOS, IBM all the popular ( 



tools, integrated applications, database 
access, full networking and more. It's 




3270 and AS/400 applications to including full ci 

co-exist, sharing data and services with ^ So user ace 

everything you need to build advanced NEXTSTEP applications. That way your legacy costly user trair 

client/server systems. apps maintain their value and all your Windows NEXTSTEP 

THE OBJECT 1$ SEMLE 



About the only 
thing it doesn't 
come with is risk: 
While it raises 
s^xsi ^^^ development 

standards by an order of magnitude, NEXTSTEP 

runs on standard Intel 

486 and Pentium® 

machines from such 

leading names as Dell, 

Compaq, NEC, Hewlett- 
Packard, Digital, NCR 

and Epson. {It's available 




Immmki 



mm 

EASE! 



In the graphical mrld of NEXTSTEP, a user can 

arms information across standard networks without having 

to mr/y about the complexities of getting there. 



networking and file standards remain intact. 

NEXTSTEP Release 3.2 even comes complete 
with SoftPC from Insignia! which contains the code 
Microsoft® uses to emulate Windows applications 
on Windows NT. So, powered by a 486 or Pentium 
chip, NEXTSTEP can run shnnkwrapped Windows 
apps at near-native speed. 

NEXTSTEP also gives you full 
support for TCP/IP NFS, GOSIP 
POSIX and Novell networking 
standards, with Macintosh® and 
MS-DOS file system compatibility. 
Its greatest power, though, is 



j computing env 
sophisticated t 
even greater p 
NeXTmail" 
into the system 
all connected i 






> 



access to drag 






i 



pre-loaded on many models.) And even though the power it delivers to your company's users. 



compatible wit 
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summoned b; 
NEXTSTE 



SIMSON00002056 



ts the ability to 
unds and fonts 
environment. 



REVIEWS 



Monitor Importance 



Box Score User 



System design 



! 

efits of object j Because the system provides a set of objects 




between applications, between users, 
even across networks. By tapping the 
power of PDO (Portable Distributed 
Objects), you can actually develop 



-ation, it doesn't ; common to all applications, the graphical 

r standards. ; interface remains simple and consistent from 

iation of UNIXf application to application. Your custom soft- xextstep supports 

just about -even standard 

itegrates the ware integrates perfectly with shrinkwrapped ' » tkMiwimM objects on a NEXTSTEP client and 
Dletely, allowing ^ NEXTSTEP productivity applications, as well as with deploy them in completely different systems, so 
vIS-DOS, IBM | all the popular DOS and Windows applications — 
including full cut-and-paste capabilities. 

So user acceptance goes up, and the need for 
costly user training goes down. 
NEXTSTEP not only offers the most advanced 



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services with 
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LESS DEPIOYMHB 



servers can utilize the same power. 

And while NEXTSTEP can deliver all of the 
advances of a revolutionary technology, it can also 
offer the day-to-day dependability of a tried-and- 
true system. Because that's exactly what it is. 

Already in 
its third 
release, 



i intact, 
nes complete 
tains the code 
applications 
' or Pentium 
)ed Windows 



NEXTSTEP 

computing environment, it comes complete with is polished, perfected and proven in the 
sophisticated bundled applications that can bring most demanding companies all around 

even greater productivity to the organization. 

the industry— or anyone else— remains 

at least two to three years away.) 




iirfni<W^;iVjiffiiiiTWI»iri 

the world. (A comparable system from the giants of 



NeXTmaiT iS built Objects are a Jar -bigger idea than any 'one computer. 

PDO can send messages across applications, 

into the svstem giving acms °ffi m ° rmm a ^hokpiamt 

so information can stay up to date 

all connected users «««***»«**« 



)eed. 



. 



access to drag-and-drop multimedia mail (it's fully 




So now you've seen how NEXTSTEP 
brings dramatic gains to both development 



gives you full compatible with UNIX mail). The complete Websters® and deployment. At least you've seen it in theory. 



JFS, GOSIf? 
^working 
intosh® and 



NEXTSTEP for Intel Processors runs on industry-standard '486- and Pentium-based machines from the 
dictionary and thesaurus Can be grid's kading computer makers. Its em aomkbh pn-lwdtdm many models. Just ask. 



\ 




-'■■■ 




ffi£^fcfe! . 



consulted at any time, from any 
application. And spell-checking 
isasystem object that can be «*g-i amm wml :m«* \mm nec EPSON HI H 

r, though, is " summoned by any application that requests it. If you can stay with us for one more page, we'd be 

users. NEXTSTEP objects, in fact, can send messages delighted to show you how it works in real life. 



compatibility. 








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A growing number of companies have seen the gains to 
be made with a complete object-oriented system of soft- 
ware. Rather than buy a vaporous promise for the future, 
they've chosen real objects now: with NEXTSTEP And 
practically overnight, they've begun to reap the benefits. 

At McCaw 
Cellular, NEXTSTEP 
| was employed to 

Even the press is impressed. NEXTSTEP has been j . 
universally praised as the only real object system. aev OIOp 3 new 

customer service system that manages all interaction with 
McCaw customers, distributors and dealers — a system 
that will ultimately be deployed to 
about 4,000 users. 

With less code required, they 
estimate their first application was completed in about 
one-third the time it would have taken using OSF MOTIF 
or Windows. And as they build a library of airtight objects, 
they expect future applications to take even less time. 

At Swiss Bank Corporation, one of the world's leading 
options trading companies, NEXTSTEP has helped build a 
product line of consistent and easily maintained financial 
services applications. The sheer speed of NEXTSTEP devel- 
opment allows them to enter new markets with innovative 
financial products-and stay well ahead of the competition. 

Chrysler Financial evaluated tools like Windows and 
PowerBuilder; but they chose NEXTSTEP They found that 
there was nothing comparable for application development 
or database interface. Plus, NEXTSTEP lets their users run 
custom and shrinkwrapped apps in one consistent way. 

The retail portion of their business is mission-critical 



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SIMSON00002058 



the ability to 
nds and fonts 
■nvironment. 



REVIEWS 



Monitor Importance 



Box Score User 



System design 



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so they're using NEXTSTEP software to create a system for 
processing automobile loans and leases at 100 financial 
centers spanning North America. By first creating generic 
business and financial objects, they expect to streamline 
future projects by sub-classing these into other objects- 
all of which can easily be updated across the organization. 
PanCanadian Petroleum Limited was 90% down the 
road to standardizing on Windows with PowerBuilder in 
creating their client/server development environment 
when they discovered NEXTSTEP and made the switch. 
Within two months, they were actually farther along in 

their project, thanks to the object- 
oriented power of NEXTSTEP 
Now they believe they have 
gained a two-to three-year lead over competitors who have 
decided to wait for object tech- 
nology from other sources. And 
they're using NEXTSTEP to 
deploy applications to 1,000 
users, delivering the necessary 
information to every professional 
practice in their business of oil 
and gas exploration. 
As you can see, NEXTSTEP 

object-oriented software is now 
paying dividends in companies 
from completely different indus- 
tries. Which proves that in the 
world of business, there is one thing that every company 
can use: a competitive advantage. 




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We've shown you how object-oriented NEXTSTEP 
is helping many companies develop and deploy custom 
applications faster and better, 

Now we invite you to get a better understanding of 
how NEXTSTEP can help streamline the most important 
company in the world: yours. 

Just call us at 1-800-TRY-NeXT, We can send you 
hardware requirement sheets, white papers or technical 
evaluations, as well as full NEXTSTEP specifications. 

. GET A COMPLETELY 

OBJECTIVE POM Of VIEW 

We can also tell you about NEXTSTEP seminars that 
may be scheduled for your area, and give you the name 
of a nearby NEXTSTEP representative or reseller. 

Our goal is to give you the insight you need to build a 
powerful competitive advantage. And that, no doubt, is 
the most important object of all. 



1-800-TRY-NeXT 




THE OBJECT IS THE ADVANTAGE: 




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Alpine NX Tower 



$ % $ $ 
$5699 {without 

Configuration 

DX2/66; 32M3 
disk; 1024-by-' 
ics; 2 VL-Bus a 
inch color mor 

NeXIWORLDte 



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SIMSON00002060 



REVIEWS 




Monitor Importance 

Don't overlook the monitor when you decide which Intel 
machine to buy. Few things can adversely impact the pro- 
ductivity of a user more than a flickering, blurry monitor. 
Because it displays complex images at high resolution, 
NEXTSTEP relies on a crisp screen. Here are some tips. 

Monitors with the smallest dot pitch are better. 
Look for a bright monitor with a lot of screen contrast. 
Blacks should be opaque and the whites should be bright. 
Make sure the monitor is capable of the maximum resolu- 
tion and color depth you ever expect to use with your computer, 
including any graphics card or VRAM upgrades you may make. 
Depending on your applications, the screen should have good color 
fidelity. Try putting up swatches of color and compare them to known color 
standards. The shadow mask, myriad tiny black holes that the pixels shine 
through, should not be visible. The screen should not reflect room light. 

Many monitors can be tuned, allowing you to adjust the picture. This 
is important if you use the computer for both native Microsoft Windows 
mode and NEXTSTEP. Each seems to drive monitors differently. 

Make sure the monitor tilts and swivels easily. Turn it on in a quiet 
room and make sure it doesn't make an annoying buzz. It shouldn't be unduly 
heavy Also, remember that some monitors require surprising depth. 

Finally, choose the largest monitor you can afford, but don't forget 
that a smaller, high-quality monitor is better than a large, bad one. We sug- 
gest at least a 16-inch color monitor for NEXTSTEP. And don't forget to 
only buy a monitor with a money-back guarantee. $ 

byDkN Lavin 



Box Score Developer 



Alpine NX Tower (manufactured by Lexar) 



I • % $ 

$5699 (without software) 

Configuration 

DX2/66; 32MB RAM; 1GB SCSI 

disk; 1024-by-768, 16-bit S3 graph- 
ics; 2 VL-Bus and 6 ISA slots; 17- 
inch color monitor. 

NeXJWORLD benchmarks 




MIPS v-v 



Disk Webster Compile 



Performance 

Good raw performance. Slowed 
slightly by middling SCSI disk. 

Video 

Bright monitor. S3 graphics signifi- 
cantly slows an otherwise excellent 
machine. 

System design 

We like this machine. Less hassle 
than many towers to open and ser- 
vice, but slightly noisy. 



NEXTSTEP orientation 

Sells directly into NeXT market 
with preinstalled software. Know- 
ledgeable tech support. 

Support 

Very good. One year parts and 
labor on-site. Guaranteed to run 
NEXTSTEP for 60 days, but not 
an unconditional money-back 
guarantee. Peripherals are manu- 
facturers' warranty. 



1 f*» 

\ — 
BHHflSHflSBQi 




* 1 




■ 





Value 

Very good price. Big disk, good monitor. 

Contact 

Alpine Computing MicroAge, 
6066 S. State St., Salt Lake City, 
UT 84107. 801/268-8877, 
800/748-4558. 



B ox S core Us e r 



Lexar NSCStation IDE 



% $ $ si 

$5699 plus $850 CD-ROM las configured 
without software) 

Configuration 

DX2/66; 32MB RAM; 350MB IDE 

drive; 1024-by-768, 16-bit S3 Actix 
graphics; 3 ISA and 2 VL-Bus slots 

open; 17-inch color monitor (flat screen, 
low radiation); ProAudio sound card. 

AteWWOfitDbenchmarte 




MIPS V-V D-V DiSk Webster 

Performance 

Fast machine with good performance 
held back by very slow IDE drive and 
sfowish graphics. 

Video 

A good-looking, flat-screen, low-radia- 
tion monitor. Slow S3 graphics hamper 
this machine. 



System design 

Attractive, quiet pizza box. Mushy key- 
board, good Logitech mouse. 

NEXTSTEP orientation 

Actively selling into NeXT market. 
NEXTSTEP preinstalled. Savvy tech 
support. 

Support 

Very good. One year on-site parts and 
labor 30-day guarantee to run NEXT- 
STEP, no unconditional money-back. 
Peripherals are manufacturers' warranty. 




Value 

Good value for solid machine with 
lots of extras, like a sound board and 
a great mouse. Could use a SCSI drive 
and faster graphics. 

Contact 

Lexar, 6A S. Gold Dr., Robbinsville, NJ 
08691. 609/890-9000, 609/890-3179 fax. 



EVERYWHER 



THE WAIT IS OVER! 

NeXT Computer's world-class 
systems administration software 
is now available for: 



*SUN 

• AUSPEX 
SOLBOURNE 

• HP 700 & 800 

• DEC 

Custom versions also available. 




Xedoc Netlnfo Editions are developed under 
licence from NeXT Computer and are 100% 
compatible. 

Use NEXTSTEP tools to manage your entire network 



THE NETINFO SOURCE 




,;«** 



xlelblolc 



Distributed by 
Xedoc Software Development || Alembic Systems International Ltd, 



Ph: *6\ 3 696 2490 
Fax: +61 3 696 6757 

Email: netinfo@sedoc.com.au 




Ph: +1 303 799 6223 
Fax: +1 303 799 1435 
Email: info@alembk.com 



Netlnfo is a trademaft of NeXT Computer, Inc. All other trademarks are Ihe property of their respective owners. 



Circle 78 on reader service card 



ECn&rUDV 1QCM WBYTWIMIl 11 



SIM SON 00002061 



REVIEWS 



Sarins Introduces a Powerful 
Idea in Scheduling. 




Simplicity. 



Other scheduling software 
promises you power — if you're 
willing to give up ease of use. We 
developed Pencil Me In™ because 
you told us you needed both. 

The ROI of Group Scheduling 

Enterprises from small businesses 
to the Fortune 1000 are discover- 
ing that group scheduling gives 
them a tangible return on their 
investment. Why? Because people 
who work in groups spend a large 
part of each work day coordi- 
nating meetings, juggling action 
items, and hunting down con- 
ference rooms. Group scheduling 
software makes these tasks more 
efficient for individuals and for 
whole organizations. 

Power and Ease of Use 

Pencil Me In is the leader in group 
scheduling on NEXTSTEP for a 
simple reason. It's the only- 
product that gives you the power 



of true enterprise scheduling with 
the simplicity of a paper time 
planner. 

API to Integrate Custom Apps 

And now, with the Pencil Me In 
API, programmers can integrate 
Pencil Me In with mission-critical 
applications on their users' desk- 
tops. And that means, quite 
simply, greater leverage. 

Call Us for a Free Demo 

Our customers love Pencil Me In. 
We think you will too. Call us at 
1-800-995-1963 for a demo of 
Pencil Me In. And simplify 
everyone's life. 

Pencil Me in 

Group Scheduling for NEXTSTEP. 

Sarrus Software, Inc. 

565 Pilgrim Drive, Suite C 
Foster City, CA 94404 
(415)345-8950 
SOFTWARE info@sarrus.com 




S Copvnghl 1993, Sar™ Software, Inc. All Rights Reserve P erK il Me In is a trademark of Sanus Software l„c 
NEXTSTEP is a trademark of NeXT Computer, Inc. 



Circle 73 on reader service card 



Professional Color 







f yoti have ever care- 
fully prepared a color 
document, only to see 
your images appear 
washed out, you know 
how much anguish color publishing 
can cause. 

To solve this and similar prob- 
lems, HERE (High-End Raster Ex- 
perts) has released an easy-to-use, full 
color-management package, HERE's 
Colore and a series of limited color- 
management utilities, HERE's Color 
CRDs. 

HERE's Color looks at a profile 
of your scanner, monitor, and printer 
and then goes to work like a plastic 
surgeon to fix defects and improve 
the appearance of your images at all 
stages of production. It will correct 
a scanned image for the idiosyncrasies 
of a particular scanner, adjust the 
monitor, and display an image on the 
screen for soft proofing - how a 
selected printer would print the 
image. It will also adjust the out- 
put of a color printer so that it 
reproduces an image as accurately 
as it physically can. 

To profile a scanner, you slip a 
special supplied target image into it, 



HERE'S Color 1.002 



# # # 

tlERE's Cote wwKfiS color tmtnageitt 
easy, flexible, and powerful [HERE's 
Color works best with PostScript Let-el* 
devices but has a few workarounds for ea 
Her PostScript in* • . 



I 



HERE'S Ceioix §895; HERE's Color CRD 

$400 for NeXT Color Printer, SSOO for 

fflllPXi 





Monitor Cattirator Panel 



Momiameier 



Set 




they are calibrated. 

Output-device profiles, called 
Color Rendering Dictionaries 
(CRDs), are more difficult to create, 
but HERE's Color ships with 15 
profiles, allowing you to use one of 
the prepared profiles if you are using 
a machine with one of the CRDs 
on the list. "Lite" versions of HERE's 
Color include just one CRD (for 
the NeXT Color Printer or the Tek- 
tronix Phaser HI PXi, for example) 
and do not provide the ability to 
characterize your own output de- 
vices or create your own CRDs. 
They costs less, however, 
than the full program. 

With your devices pro- 
filed and brought within 
the closed loop of the color- 
management system, sev- 
eral valuable tools become 
available. You can check an 



HERE's Color allows users to fine-tune color calibration by 
matching monitor specs. 



image, preview it on-screen, 
and then simply print with 
the new Use Level 2 Printer 
Calibration option check- 
ed. HERE's Color handles 
the rest invisibly in the back- 
ground. Your printing takes 
slightly longer, but the 
performance hit is minimal 
and will not affect your 
workflow. 

If you need color fidelity in your 



save it as a TIFF file, and drag that 
file into a window in HERE's Color. 

Users only have to do this once. NEXTSTEP work, you will need 

Adjusting the monitor is a two- to spring for HERE's Color. At 
step process. The first panel asks you W5, you can have the same color 
for the color values for your display management capabilities as users 
(available from the manufacturer), 
or you can opt to use the app's de 



on Windows or Mac systems. $ 



fault settings. The second step pro- 
vides you with three pairs of colors 
that you adjust with a slider bar until 



by Rick Reynolds 



32 W*m FEBRUARY 1994 




SIMSON00002062 



REVIEWS 



Fits Like a Glove 



Tailor 1.0c 



• # % % 

Tailor alfom full manipulation and editing 
of PostScript files. It is an exceptional pro- 
gram with functionality unknown on any 
platform. Highly recommended, 

S495; So-percent educational discount 

First Class NV, Atmnesdreef 32, 9031 
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2274589 fax; petet@firstckss.hc. In North 
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CO 80112. 303/799-6223, 800/452-7608, 
303/7994435 fax; info@akmbic.com. 



Qailor is a phenomenal 
utility that makes it 
easy to do what many 
people once consid- 
ered impossible: sensi- 
bly edit PostScript printer files gen- 
erated by other applications. 

When you run Tailor on a Post- 
Script file created in any other pro- 
gram, the software automatically 
finds all of the text and graphical ob- 
jects. Tailor then lets you edit these 
graphics directly on the screen with- 
out requiring you to have any knowl- 
edge of PostScript. Finally, you can 
save the modified PostScript files, ere- cations running on Microsoft Win- 
ating a new document. dows or a Macintosh. Most impres- 

Suppose, for example, that you sively, it even knows how to decode 
have an old PostScript file for an ad- PostScript looping constructs and 
vertisement that ran over a year ago, conditionals. The only PostScript 
but you no longer have the original file that it failed to understand was a 
document. Using Tailor, you can open 300-page TeX document, but that's 
the file, copy out any logos or spe- not a major failing: People who use 

TeX deserve what they get. 

Only a few features are miss- 
ing from this otherwise stellar 
program. Unlike most drawing 
apps, Tailor lacks a grid for 
alignment and for sizing objects 
to a uniform size. You also can't 
change the background or color 
of a TIFF - even single-bit im- 
ages. While Tailor has unlim- 
ited levels of undo and redo, it 
has no way to select an object 
and return it to its original posi- 
tion, proportions, or orientation. 
Tailor's on-line manual would 
be considered well written if the 
program were produced by a 
U.S. software pubisher. Com- 
cial graphics, and paste them into pared with other European vendors 
another application using the stan- that have tried to sell into the U.S. 
dard Copy and Paste commands. Or market, it is exceptional, but the lack 
you could simply change the text of printed documentation is still a 
and move objects around. Tailor can failing. A simple eight-page manual 
also scale, rotate, or skew any text could substantially ease installation, 
or graphic. We tested Tailor 1.0c. With the 

Tailor is also a drawing program, exception of a single bug in the pro- 
with commands to draw circles, gram (occasionally, Tailor's Inspector 
squares, lines, and text. You can group panel did not switch to show a Text 
or ungroup objects, control layering, inspector when we selected a block of 
and magnify artwork up to 6400 per- text), this program appeared flawless, 
cent. You can even paste PostScript Tailor all but eliminates the need 

files from other NEXTSTEP appli- for graphic-design firms to have a staff 




With its powerful feature set, Tailor provides the capa- 
bility to edit PostScript files for any intended effect. 



cations, as well as TIFF and EPS 
images, into a Tailor document. 
Tailor works equally well with 



member who knows Adobe's some- 
times-cryptic PostScript language. Use it 
just once, and you'll never go back to 



PostScript files that were handcrafted, editing PostScript with EMACS. $ 
generated from other NEXTSTEP _____ 



% 



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Circle 77 on reader service card 



< 



applications, or produced from appli- by Si M SON L. Garfinkel 



SIMSON00002063 



F E ft T 



E 



» BudTribble 

above the language dependencies, and you define interfaces to objects in 
terms of the Interface Definition Language (IDL). Then you have bind- 
ings from IDL to a variety of languages. You shouldn't have to know what 
particular language an object is implemented in. 

In the procedural world, I can call a library, and I don't know whether 
it's written in C or assembly language or Fortran or Pascal. In the object 
world, we have to get to that stage. 

Another issue is the imaging model. NEXTSTEP runs with the Display PostScript 
(DPS) server and Solaris uses an X Windows DPS server. 

If you are going to have X Windows and DPS windows on the screen at the 
same time, you don't want two different mechanisms to handle those win- 
dows. We will support the same DPS calls that NeXT does. Now, for some 
of the things, like the window management, NeXT has extended DPS. We 
will stick to the Adobe DPS. For the window management, we will do that 
through the AppKit calls, which is what everyone does anyway. 

Resource Allocation 



All this may be feasible, but it still takes work. What are the resources at NeXT 
for the SPARC port and the OpenStep implementation? 

Well, first of all, welcome to the software business. NeXT has a lot less to 
do than they used to. In terms of the native NEXTSTEP port to SPARC, 
yes, NeXT has work to do. They're actually getting pretty good at that, 
now that they've done Intel and PA-RISC. They're building up some exper- 
tise. In terms of the OpenStep implementation on Solaris, we're clearly the 
experts on Solaris and DOE. My group will provide the lion's share of the 
work required to port to Solaris. 

We've talked about different components of NEXTSTEP. What about different 
versions, such as future releases beyond 3.2? 

The companies expect to work closely together as we go forward, though 




Dedicated to the NeXTSTEP Community 



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we are not committed to staying in lockstep. OpenStep today is a good core 
set of interfaces, but clearly you don't want to stand still. NeXT has a lot 
of good ideas that we at Sun are in a good position to work with them 
on. We can either adopt those or do our own implementation when 
they come out. 

Is this relationship your major responsibility here at Sun? 

What I run is the DOE program, which was a preexisting program, and I 
took it over about four months ago and consolidated it. Prior to that, I was 
running the CDE program. 

There is a lot of speculation that this is what you had in mind all along when you 
left NeXT, or even that you were actually sent by Steve Jobs. Whafs the truth? 

You'll remember that at the time I came to Sun, NeXT was a hardware 
company. Clearly, there was no possible way that, given that situation, the 
companies could have gotten together. It was not even contemplated at 
NeXT at that point to become a software company. 

So if you are asking was this all somehow planned out, absolutely 
not. At the same time, once NeXT did decide to become a software com- 
pany, that set the stage for the possibility of synergy between Sun and 
NeXT. 

In mis deal, NeXT becomes a technology provider. In your view, to what extent 
do they continue as an independent platform provider and operating-system 
company? 

At SunSoft, our business model is to do both - sell a complete operating 
system and also license people the technology - and we find it a very viable 
model. We will sell you an operating system, Solaris, and that's a very good 
business. We will also sell you component technologies, NFS or the Com- 
mon Desktop Environment or whatever, and that's a good business as well. 
It works for us, and I think that could be a fine business model for NeXT 
as well. 



I 8f Chaw SW/ 



1™ is the presentation quality charting 
and falling package tor NEXTSTEP®. CHaRTSMITH 
es high quality graphics and an intuitive user 
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34 WMa FEBRUARY 1994 




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NKTSfSP i$o registered trademark of NEXT Computer, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. 
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Circle 86 on reader service card 




SIM SON 00002064 




FREE PRODUCT 
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POSTAGE IS ABSOLUTELY FREE! 



A. Department you most often work in 
(please check one); 

□ 1) Accounting, finance or auditing 

□ 2) Administration or general 
management 

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□ 4) Education or training 

□ 5) Engineering 

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operations 

□ 7) Marketing, promotion or 
communications 

J 8) MIS/DP, tech. services or tech. 

documentation 
J 9) Other 

B. Computer you use at work or at home 
(please check all that apply); 

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C. Publication you read regularly 
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Check here for a one-year subscription to NeXTWORLD. $29.95/year 

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Need to create a presentation in a hurry? No problem. 
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The EPSON OCR Workstation includes an EPSON NX computer, monitor, 
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Let Club PC put you in touch with the best business solutions available today. Overnight shipment. Just plug-in and go. 

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Fully NEXTSTEP compatible Chinese system with built-in 5 fonts 
(13051 characters each) available, satisfying the needs even of a 
demanding user. With CHlNAware you can use five different input 
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An IB palette for Chinese textobjects and API are included to make 
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terminal and search utility. Price = $995.00, Promotion Price = $795.00 

Object Rain Corp./IOF-I No. 107, Sec. 2, Roosevelt Rood/Taipei, Taiwan 

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Talk Sense to Your Computer 




Hypersease® is powerful authoring software that makes sense - for 
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ACCURATE TERMINAL EMULATION FOR NEXTSTEP 




Cables is the definitive terminal emulation and communications applica- 
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36 NIXTWflRLD FEBRUARY 1994 




SIMSON00002068 




Hardware Sale 





Don't miss this opportunity to purchase quality used Next cubes, sta- 
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Circle 105 on reader service card 



Introductory offer extended to Feb 1 5! 



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5 T E » S 



CrashCatcher™ is a non-intrusive runtime utility for Objective-C 
debugging. It generates comprehensive reports on crashes and non- 
fatal exceptions for software under development. Plus, it continues to 
watch for errors in beta-test and production software. Reports auto- 
matically go to the user's console or an e-mail address. Without 
CrashCatcher, end-users report only a few of the errors they experi- 
ence because they cannot reproduce or describe the specific events 
leading up to the error. 

WbheLight Systems, lnc/350 Cambridge Avenue, Suite 200/Palo Alto, CA 94306 
Phone: (415) 321-2183/Fax: (415) 321 -2083/mfa@wlriteRght.com 



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Product Showcase 



Screen recording for NEXTSTEP 




WatchMe™ creates "tapes" by recording the screen activities and 
sounds of a work session to disk. You record a session, explaining 
what you are doing while you are doing it. When the tape is played 
back, viewers hear your voice while seeing what you did. WatchMe is 
great for creating instructional materials or for documenting your cus- 
tom applications. WatchMe tapes can be easily integrated into the 
NEXTSTEP Help system or into multimedia documents. $120 per 
user. Call or E-mail for a free evaluation copy. 

Otherwise/ 1 501 Lowe Ave/Betinghom, WA 98226/(206) 647-9436 
Fax: (206) 738-60 17/waf fbe@ofherwise.com 



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Complete Access 




Complete Access is the first object-oriented report writing application. 
Features include an intuitive graphical query builder which lets anyone 
create ad hoc queries without learning SQL, charting, and optional out- 
lining. Approximately 100 functions permit you to perform almost any 
type of calculation on your data. Use Complete Access to create not only 
your reports, but mail labels, envelopes, forms, list views, and more. 
Complete Access can be used with Rosebase, Sybase, Oracle, QuickBase, 
Interbase, or any other database for which an adaptor is available. 

Ocean Software, ln./4241 Baymeadows Rd #1 2,/Jacksonville, FL 3221 7 
904-363- 1 646/inf o@oceansoff.com 



Circle 108 on reader service card 



SIMSON00002069 



Product Showcase 



The Next Step Toward More Powerful Computing. 







The Intel 

Professional/GX 

platform, the 

power behind the 

KEYS 

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Daytona. 

The Keys Professional Daytona Workstation from Avnet Computer 
With the power of a graphics workstation, plus the flexbility of a PC, 
Avnet Computer's KEYS professional Daytona Workstation has every- 
thing you need for today's more powerful computing: »Custom Built 
Platforms by Intel for Avnet Computer • Optimized for the Fastest 
Intel486™ Processors • Now Shipping with the New, Advanced 
Graphics Capabilities • SCSI Expansion for Tapes, CD-ROMs and 
Other Devices. Call Avnet Computer today for a free KEYS Computer 

demonstration Video: 1 (800) 426-7999 Intel486 is a trademark Of IntriCorp. 




raSCTT 8 Avnet/l 0950 Washington Blvd./Culver City (A 90232 
_«T5ME ■ 310-558-2484 

W COMPUTER "*™ ™" 



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The Last Word in NEXTSTEP Systems 



1 



r 



itt 



NOW SHIPPING 



BARRACUDA Series 

Benchmarked the fastest 

'486DX-66Mhz, EISA/VESA 

up to 1MB Cache and 256 MB memory 

Pentium™ Technology available 

starting at $1995. 



Made In USA 




ifv= 




All of our systems are preloaded, configured, and tested with 
NEXTSTEP according to your requirements. Our customer ser- 
vice has made us No. 1, ask Clorox, Bank of America, Lawrence 
Berkeley Lab, UC Berkeley, Unisys Corp., EDS, PG&E, and 
many more. 

Order Desk Call Toll Free: 1-800-947-4742 



Pars International Computer/ 22441 Foothill BJvdJHayward, CA 94541/(800) 947-4742 
(510) 733-0103 Fax I510J 733-0206 ^ W 



Circle 1 11 on reader service card 




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GraphRight is the most advanced, easy to use application for creating 
graphs and charts available for NeXTSTEP today. GraphRight's Object 
Oriented API can retrieve data from a variety of sources such as databases 
and stock feeds. 

Features include; •Full Distributed Object API •Dynamic Object Linking 
•Error Bars and Linear Regression •Intuitive Interface 'Backdrop Imaging 
•Easy to Use Table Based Data Editor •Full Rich Text Editing •Unlimited 
Undo »Drag and Drop Everything •Discontinuous Selection of Data. 



Watershed Technologies lnc/13 Tremoiri St. Suite 3F/Marlboro , MA 01 752/(5Q8)-460-961 2 
Fax (508)-481 ■3955/griip!iright@watershe(!.com 



Circle 1 10 on reader service card 



Simplify Database Kit™ Development 

Write Better Database Applications Faster with 
Target Development's Database Kit Objects 




WW »".! MlwSiKW 



aiw MfSUHII wmmm 




Development 



Database Kit palettes from Target Development can significantly enhance 
your application development environment. The RetrieverPalette™ provides a 
graphical means for building queries, fetching data, and sorting records. The 
LinkPalette™ provides objects for linking image, text, and sound files from 
the database to the file system via pathname. The ReportPalette™ provides a 
graphical means for generating custom hierarchal database reports. Technical 
documentation and email support are included. $139.00 per development 
machine. $269.00 for all three. Free demo versions available. 

Target Development/72 West Elizabeth Street/Landisville, PA 1 7538/(800) 444-5435 
(717)898-9190/objetts@torgeHle».toiti 



Circle 1 12 on reader service card 



3! mum FEBRUARY 1994 




SIMSON00002070 



Advertiser Index 



RS# 


Company 


27 


Alembic Systems 


64 


Athena Design 


109 


Avnet Computer 


24 


Bacchus Software 


^ 


Black 8c White Software 


% 


BLACKSMITH, Inc. 


81 


Blue Rose 


25 


Contemporary Cybernetics 


102 


Cypress Computer 


105 


Dominion Ventures 


% 


GEC Computer 


8,49,55,30,82 


GS Corp./Collaggi 


99 


HP/Next 


43 


IT Solutions 


62 


JC Information 


29 


Lighthouse Design 




NeXT Computer 


101 


Object Rain Corp. 


38 


Objective Technologies 


108 


Ocean Software 


106 


Otherwise 


59 


Pages 


111 


PARS International 


73 


Sarrus Software 


77 


SofDesign Solutions 


9,34 


Talus 


112 


Target Development 


103 


Thoughtful Software 


110 


Watershed Technologies 


107 


Whitelight Systems 


31 


Workstation 2000 


78 


Xedoc 


104 


YRRID 



Page# 

12 
20-21 

38 

3 

2 

34 

39 

5 

36 

37 

15 

8,9,10,11,35 

26-27 

3 

C3 

C2 

30A-H 

36 

C4 

37 

37 

6 

38 

32 

33 

2,16 

38 

36 

38 

37 

34 

31 

36 



IDG: WORLDWIDE 



NeXTWORLD is a publication of [nte-national Data Croup, 
the world's largest publisher of computer-related information 
and the leading global provider of information services on 
information technology. International Data Group publishes 
over 194 computer publications in 62 countries. Forty mil- 
lion people read one or more International Data Croup pub- 
lications each month. International Data Group's publications 
include: ARGENTINA'S Computerworld Argentina, 
lnfoworlc Argentina; ASIA'S Computerworld Hong Kong. 
PC World Hong Kong, Computerworld Southeast Asia, PC 
World Singapore, Computerworld Malaysia, PC World 
Malaysia; AUSTRALIA'S Computerworld Australia, 
Australian PC World, Australian Macworld. Network 
World, Mobile Business Australia, Reseller, IDG Sources; 
AUSTRIA'S Computerwelr Cteterreich, PC Test; BRAZIL'S 
Computerworld, Game pro, .Game Power. Mundo IBM. 
Mundo Unix, PC World, Super Game; BELGIUM'S Data 
News (Cff) BULGARIA'S Computerworld Bulgaria, 
Ediworld. PC & Mac World Bulgaria, Network World 
Bulgaria; CANADA'S CIO Canada, Computerworld Canada, 
Graduate Computerworld, InfoCanada, Network World 
Canada: CHILE'S Computerworld Chile, Miformatira; 
COLOMBIA'S Computerworld Colombia; CZECH REPUB- 
LIC'S Computerworld, Elektronika, PC World; DEN- 
MARK'S CAD/CAM WORLD, Communications World, 
Computerworld Danmark, LOTUS World, Macintosh 
Ptoduktkatalog, Macworld Danmark, PC World Danmark, 
PC World Produktguide, Windows World; ECUADOR'S PC 
World Ecuador; EGYPT'S Computerworld iCWI Middle 
East, PC World Middle East; FINLAND'S MikroPC, 
Tietoviikko, Tietoverkko; FRANCE'S Distributive, GOLD- 
EN MAC, InfoPC, Languages & Systems, Le Guide du 
Monde Informatique, Le Monde Informatique, Telecoms & 
Reseaux; GERMANY'S Computerwoche, Computerwoche 
Focus, Computerwoche Extra, Computerwoche Karriere, 
Information Management, Macwelt, Netzwelt, PC Welt, PC 
Woche, Publish, Unit; GREECE'S Infoworld, PC Games; 
HUNGARY'S Computerworld SZT, PC World; INDIA'S 
Computers 5c Communications; IRELAND'S 
Gomputerscope; ISRAEL'S Computerworld Israel, PC World 
Israel; ITALY'S Computetworld Italia, Lotus Magazine, 
Macworld Italia, Networking Italia, PC Shopping Italy, PC 
World Italia; JAPAN'S Computerworld Today, Information 
Systems World, Macworld Japan, Nikkei Personal 
Computing, Advanced Systems Japan, Windows World; 
KENYA'S East African Computer News; KOREA'S 
Computerworld Korea, Macworld Korea, PC World Korea; 
MEXICO'S Compu Edtcion, Compu Manufactura, 
Computacion/Punto de Vents, Computerworld Mexico, 



MacWorid, Mundo Unix, PC World, Windows; THE 
NETHERLANDS' Computet! Totaal, Computable (CW), 
LAN Magazine, Macworld, Totaal "Windows"; NEW 
ZEALAND'S Computer Listings, Computerworld New 
Zealand, New Zealand PC World; NIGERIA'S PC World 
Africa; NORWAY'S Computerworld Norge, C.'World. 
Lotusworid Norge, Macworld Norge, Networld, PC World 
Ekspress, PC World Norge, PC World's Produktguide, 
Published Multimedia Wotld. Student Data, Unix World, 
Windowsworld; IDG Direct Response; PANAMA'S PC 
World Panama; PERU'S Computetworld Peru, PC World; 
PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA'S China Computerworld. 
China Infoworld, PC World China, Electronics 
International, Electronic Product World, China Network 
World; IDG HIGH TECH BEIJING'S New Product World; 
IDG SHENZHEN'S Computer News Digest; PHILIPPINES' 
Computerworld Philippines. PC Digest IPCW); POLAND'S 
Computerworld Poland, PC World/Kompurer: PORTUGAL'S 
Cerebro/PC World, Correio InformaiiaVCamputerworld, 
Macln; ROMANIA'S Computerworld, PC Wotld; RUSSIA'S 
Computerwotid-Moscow, Mir - PC, Sety; SLOVENIA'S 
Monitor Magazine; SOUTH AFRICA'S Computer Mail 
!CIOi,Computing S.A.,Network World S.A.; SPAIN'S Amiga 
Wotld. Computerworld Espana, Communicaciones World, 
Macworld Espana, NeXTWORLD, Super Juegos Magazine 
(GamePro), PC World Espana, Publish, Sunworld; SWE- 
DEN'S Attack, ComputerSweden, Corporate Computing, 
Lokala Natverk/LAN, Lotus World, MAC.&PC, Macworld, 
Mikrodatotn, PC World, Publishing & Design (CAP], 
Datakgenioren, Maxi Dita, Windows World; SWITZER- 
LAND'S Computerworld Schweiz, Macworld Schweiz, PC 
K.italog, PC & Workstation; TAIWAN'S Computerworld 
Taiwan, Global Computer Express, PC World Taiwan; 
THAILAND'S Thai Computerworld; TURKEY'S 
Computerworld Monitor, Macworld Turkive, PC World 
Turkiye; UKRAINE'S Computerworld; UNITED KING- 
DOM'S Computing /Computerworld, Connexion'Network 
World, Lotus Magazine, Macworld, Open 
Ccimputing/Sunworld; UNITED STATES' AmigaWorld, 
Cable in the Classroom, CD Review, CIO, Computerworld, 
Desktop Video World, DOS Resource Guide, Electronic 
Entertainment Magazine, Federal Computer Week, Federal 
Integrator, GamePro, IDG Books, Infoworld, Infoworld 
Direct, Laset Event, Macworld. Multimedia World, Network 
Wotld, NeXTWORLD, PC Letter. PC World, PlayRight, 
Power PC World, Publish, SunWorld, SWATPro, Video 
Event; VENEZUELA'S Computerworld Venezuela, 
MicraComputerworld Venezuela; VIETNAM'S PC Wotld 
Vietnam 



Rosebase 

Relational Database Server for NEXTSTEP 

Features: Joins, Views, Aggregates, Subqueries, Scalar 
and date functions, Data manipulation, Multiple indicies, 
Declarative referential integrity. Query optimization. 

Data types: TINYINT, SIMALLINT, INTEGER, 
DOUBLE PRECISION, REAL, FLOAT, DECIMAL, 
NUMERIC, CHAR, VARCHAR, DATE, TIME, 
TIMESTAMP, BIT, VARBIT, BYTE, VARBYTE. 

Includes: Server, ObjC client library, DBKit adaptor, 
Query tool (w/ source), Example apps (w/ source). 




Blue Rose Systems 



800-821 -ROSE 

Email: rosebase@BlueRose.com 

Phone: 41 5-949-2426 Fax: 41 5-941 -71 29 



Circle 81 on reader service card 



Classified 



NeXTWORLD magazine Classifieds is a 
monthly feature. Rates effective 
February/March Issue. Per-line rates $15.00. 
Thirty-six characters equal one line (count 
each letter, space and punctuation mark as a 
character.!. Four-line minimum, seven lines 
per inch. For column inch rates, please call or 
write for complete rare card information. 
Check or money order (or certified check) 
must accompany copy and be received six 
days prior to close date. All ads accepted at 
the discretion of the publisher. 
NeXTWORLD magazine 501 Second St., San 
Francisco. CA 94107 415/978-3182. 



DESIGN 



GRAPHIC DESIGN CONSULTANTS 
SPECIALIZING IN THE NeXT ENVIRONMENT 

Corporate Identity • Logo* • Brochures 

Product Packaging • Manuals • Advertising 

Architectural Graphics • Rendering • Signage 




yj 



212»966-2635 



■• 



HARDWARE 



FOR SALE: NeXTstation 
25mHz/040 with 8MB RAM/1 05MB 
hrd disk/2. 88MB floppy 17" 
MegaPixel Display w/ mic, 400dpi 
laser printer. Pat Brice 717/8235946 



CONSULTING 



Chicago Object Group - NeXTStep 
Consulting. NeXT since 1990, 
Object Oriented since 1987, Unix 
since 1980. OOA, OOD, Oracle, 
Sybase, Interbase DBA, PB/IB, 
DBKit, Display Postscript, Network 
Design, TCP/IP, Distributed Objects. 
Custom NS/FIP Integration. 
708/251-5310 

MISSING SOMETHING? 

For NeXTWORLD Back Issues call 

Catherine Huchting at 

415/267-1746 

NEED REPRINTS? 

500 - 20,000 or more 

call Hilal Sala at 

415/978-3320 






: 






SIMSON00002071 



VANISHING POINT 




he absence of alternatives clears the mind marveJously." 

So Henry Kissinger is reported to have replied when asked 
why two zealots of such toxic pride as Menachem Begin and 
Anwar Sadat would ever sit down and reason together. The an- 
swer was obvious. Each needed so desperately what the other had that sav- 
ing face had finally started to look like an expendable luxury. 

Which is not exactly to compare them to Steve Jobs and Scott McNealy, 
or to compare Sun and NeXT to Egypt and Israel, but of Hank's fine phrase 
was on my mind the other day when I learned about the most surprising and 
yet obvious of partnerships. 

It was surprising only in that the alliance 
always Made Great Sense and yet had con- 
tinuously failed to happen. Instead, McNealy 
and Jobs traded shots that were far too per- 
sonal to be overlooked in anything but the 
service of necessity. 

But necessity, or something close to it, 
had arisen for both sides. Maybe NeXT 
wasn't ready to close its doors, but the num- 
bers were hard to put a pretty face on. It had 



Here Comes 
The Sun 



} E R K Y B 



The folks at Sun reviewed their options for an object-oriented develop- 
ment and interface layer. They had Big Pink from Taiigent, in which not even 
Apple and IBM have any faith. They had Cairo lumbering its way through 
the Microsoft pipeline. And they had NEXTSTEP, the world's greatest oper- 
ating system and development environment. However distasteful, it was a 
no-brainer. 

For NeXT, it was a case of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. Com- 
mercial software development and sales, which had ground to a near halt, 
responded instantaneously. Said Andrew Stone of Stone Design: "Already 

this week, the phone is ringing again. People 
get a new vibration, and they are just buy- 
ing software like crazy." 

Together, Sun and NeXT might just kick 
butt and take names. If IBM adopts Open- 
Step, it's not ridiculous to imagine the new 
pair becoming the Microsoft of the '90s. 
At a minimum, there's a good chance that 
NEXTSTEP is going to be important. There 
will again be commercial UNIX software 
for mere mortals! 



to do something - even something as distasteful as opening the crown-jewel 
case to the grubby paws of commoners and talking nice to Scott McNealy. 

Meanwhile, over at Sun, things were not so copacetic either. Sun had 
sold a box to just about everyone on the planet who is dweeby enough to 
suffer such a savage user interface. The slope of saturation could be seen. 
Besides, the folks at Sun are iron boys. Chip cookers. They haven't really done 
software since Bill Joy moved to Aspen, and they're much too cumbersome 
to do it efficiently now. 

The reality is that Solaris is an immense and tangled mess. It comes out 
with bug fixes about as often as Newton, and I still don't know many sysad- 
mins brave enough to install it. Worse yet, the hot new SPARC boxes require 
it. Sales were poised at the edge of a cliff. 



I may just be manic with relief. Many issues remain to be worked out, 
such as where X Windows fits into all this. What about Objective-C vs. C++? 
It could be another Seventh Cavalry mirage. 

One interesting sign, though. Over at SunSoft, they were already start- 
ing to talk NeXTese. The company's announcement of the deal included such 
weirdly familiar language as: "Solaris, with this new integrated object appli- 
cation layer, will give SunSoft's rightsizing customers a best-of-breed solution 
to build mission-critical applications." I wonder if they've licensed the rhet- 
oric, too. 

John Perry Barlow earns his degree in rhetoric here each 
month. He can be reached at barlow@nextworld.com. 



In a Class by Itself 



NeXT Games 



by Scott Kim 

NEXTSTEP objects include both visible interface elements, such as buttons 
and windows, and invisible operating-system elements, such as files and 
processes. Objects with similar characteristics are grouped into classes, while 
a specialized object that occurs often enough gets its own subclass, For in- 
stance, the Open File panel in NEXTSTEP belongs to the class OpenWin- 
dow, which is a subclass of Window. In addition, we say that Window is a 
superclass of OpenWindow 
Co n test 

At right are the names of 12 different types of polygons; some are more 
specialized than others. For instance, a square is a special kind of rectangle, 
so Rectangle is a superclass of Square. Your challenge is to draw arrows 
pointing from each superclass to all of its immediate subclasses. Do not draw 
extra arrows that skip intermediate subclasses. For instance, you should 
draw an arrow from Parallelogram to Rectangle and from Rectangle to 
Square, but not from Parallelogram to Square. 

Some classes have more than one superclass (a square is both a rectan- 
gle and a rhombus). The marks show which angles and sides are equal. Hint: 
A convex polygon has no angle greater than 180 degrees, and a trapezoid 
has four sides, two of which are parallel 

Up to ten lucky winners will receive a NeXTWORLD T-shirt. Address 
entries to Puzzle Editor, NeXWQRLD, 501 Second St., San Francisco, CA 
94107. Or fax us at 4 15/978-3196. And while you're at it, write us a note 
about the magazine. Entries must be received by February 15, 1994. 

The answers to "The Plot Thickens" in the December issue are: 1 . A, 
2. F, 3. E, 4. B, 5. 1, 6. J, 7, L, 8. K, 9. H, 10. C, 11. D, 12. G. 












40 mam FEBRUARY 1994 




SIMSON00002072 



y///////////mm//mff7ffff7ff7m 



NeXT To 




Experience the Power ofPowerGmpHcs System 



The most important factor in 
graphics performance is the 
architecture of the video frame 
buffer. It holds an image composed 
and stored by a host before send- 
ing out to the display. An ideal 
architecture is one that allows si- 
multaneous data transfer in and 
out of the frame buffer indepen- 
dently at maximum speed. The 
benefits are not only blazing speed, 
but also the ability to display high 
resolutions such as 1600x1200 in 
, 256 colors, 1152x900 in 64K col- 
| ors, and 800x600 in 16M colors 
(true color). 



Compact footprint with ample 
capacity up to 6 drives 



■■- -?:' ■■■•:' -"'•'-.•_""' 




, 


I 






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s : 


t 

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1 


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. 




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t 



EX 




/ r r i i 

I i ;: f ■ , i i i i 

/,, I- / II II I ! 1.1 

J | I f I I 






Both the JC/NX and JC/P9 are 
examples of systems with such 
an architecture. While the primary 
focus of the JC/NX is to bring 
top performance to NeXTSTEP, it 
is also a serious contender for high 
speed Windows and AutoCAD 
performance. In addition to the 
most powerful frame buffer, the 
JC/P9 is armed with the most 
complete and efficient set of graph- 
ics acceleration functions. Its 
reduced command set, similar to 
RISC technology in workstations, 
brings the best of two worlds, PC 
and workstation, to the desktop. 



High resolution ]CV/17e 
0.26mm 17" monitor (optional) 

Display units ranging from 15 " 
to 2 1 " monitors 



V 




' ■ JC2230 486/66DX2 Systemboard 

with power-saving features 



■ Ultra performance JC 1440 video 
controller with 2M bvtes Video RAM 
and 24-bit RAMDAC 



Multi-media kit: JC 1 660 16-bit stereo ■ Storage option comes with various 
sound card, speakers, and sizes 

CD/ROM drive 



Circle 62 on reader service card 



'C'NX, JC/P9, and JCV are trademarks of JC Information Systems Corporation. 



JC Information Systems Corp. 

4487 Technology Drive 
Fremont, CA 94538 
ThePowerGraohicsComnanv. (510)659-8440 FAX (510) 659-8449 




SIMSON00002073 







Hierarchical Reports 



Create multi-level 
hierarchical repoiis of 
arbitrary complexity. 
Titles and labels can 
repeat on each level. 



Cross Tables 



Multi-directional data 
replication allows 
creation of cross tabular 
and other complex 
report sections. 



Custom Elements 




Build your own palettes 
of report display 
elements. Customize 
the look of your report. 



Static Images 



1 

2 
3 

4 

5 
Avg 



Growth £ 
Trial: t 

Subi( 



4 



Avg 



Confidential - 1 



Rotated Elements, too! 



Include logos, 

graphics, text and 

other static artwork 

in the report layout 

These will replicate as 

the report grows. 



Summary: NS-93 Accelerated 

Depth(mm) 
Trial Start End A 


Davs £ • Al 


1 7.16 

2 8.23 

3 7.52 

4 6.96 


6.16 
5.84 
6.28 
6.50 


1.00 
2.29 
1.24 
0.46 


274 0.24 
35.4 1.05 

32.2 O.OO 

19.3 0.78 






A 1.24 


Avg. Dev. 0.50 




— Notes — 

This trial was extremely 
sucessful in showing the 
regenerative potential of 
Serum NS-93. We 
recommend going to full 
human study as soon as 
possible. 



Confidential - Do Not Distribute 



Page 1 ol 4 



2:11am 7/11/1993 



Complex Analytics 



Create formulas 

dependant on data or 

other calculations that 

are described earlier 

or later in the report 



Rich Text 



Retrieve formatted 

text (RTF) from the 

database. 





on 

SmartField 
Palette 

Winner of Ob ject Ware 
Best Of Breed Award 



The DBKit™ Report Writer 

Impress™ is the missing piece of the 
DBKit. NeXT supplied the tools to create 
custom database applications but what 
you need are account statements, 
analytical reports, form letters and 
mailing labels. On paper. Without writing 
a program or learning PostScript®. 

Impress lets you easily create reports 
from any DBKit accessible database. Use 
WYSIWYG layout tools to produce 

Imprest, and SmaiiFkltlPahle are trademark, of Objective Technologies, 
Ik. DBKii is a trademark »t AfeJH! inc. PostScript is u registered trademark 

sf Adobe Svstemi lac . 



Circle 38 on reader service cord 



everything from simple tables to multi- 
page hierarchical documents. Retrieve 
data with point & click query tools. 
Construct complex reports with an 
extensible scripting language. 

Buy Impress and let Objective 

Technologies finish the job NeXT began. 
Report writing was never so easy. 

800.3.08JECT 212.227.6767 iitfo@obje<l.«>m 



SIMSON00002074 



\AARCH 



m y 
Solaris User 
xs Sun Rise 




Extra Objects mm 
HP Swings m 
Both Ways 




Forest and Trees 
WhiteLight Models 
Enterprise Financials 




Group Therapy 
Sarrus Knows 
Collaboration 







SNAPSHOT 



of the 



NeXT Market, , 



R 



The NeXTWORL 






Top Customers and 



r=0 
-N 

•00 

=o 



DOCK SOUP 

--jv f rated products 

* * * 



SIMSON00002075 



The Best Mission Critical Application 
Are the Ones You Didn't Have to Writ* 






DIAGRAM! 2 



CONCURRENCE 2 TASKMASTER 



Whether you're drafting a presentation, creating 
business or CASE graphics, or managing projects, 
there's a world of work to be done outside your 
"mission critical" custom apps. And that's where 
Lighthouse Design delivers NEXTSTEP'S clearest 
advantage— great productivity software 
seamlessly integrated with the world's most 
powerful development environment. 

Business and Technical Graphics 

With a revolutionary and much-imitated "drag 
and drop" drawing metaphor, Diagram! 2 is the 
first drawing program for any platform to focus 
on business and CASE graphics. "Intelligent" 
lines and labels, customizable drawing palettes 
and an "open" file format let you think and draw 
simultaneously, and use your work as more than 
just pretty pictures. That's why Diagram! is 
NEXTSTEP'S best-selling drawing program. 




Diagram! speeds the creation and revision of information papkki 



Presentation & Outlining 

By tightly integrating outlines and presentations, 
Concurrence speeds the production of high- 
quality proposals and briefings. Print the results 
to any PostScript® device, from laser printers to 
35mm slide makers, or deliver them via 
NeXTMail to desktops throughout your 
organization. Now in its second release, 
Concurrence 2 has a host of new features 
including NEXTSTEP object linking for "live 
graphics," and support for PowerPoint© file 
conversion. 

Comprehensive Project Management 

TaskMaster breaks new ground in serious project 
management with a powerful task and resource 
outliner, drag-and-drop resource assignments, 
and interactive Gantt charts. As NEXTSTEP'S first 
comprehensive project management program, 




Concurrence is NEXTSTEP'S premiere outlining ami presentation application. 



TaskMaster provides support for planning, 
tracking and analyzing large and small projei 
Advanced features include support for multi- 
document subprojects, automatic assignmeni 
from resource pools, priority-based levelling, 
and importing data from spreadsheets and 
popular project management applications. Ai 
TaskMaster minimizes training costs by 
incorporating user interface elements commt 
to both Diagram! and Concurrence. 

Lighthouse Design: We're Delivering the Fou 
of NEXTSTEP. 

For more information, and a free 
brochure, contact NeXTConnection: 

1-800-800-NeXT 
+1-603-446-3383 




Taskmaster introduces comprehensive project management for NEXTSTEP 



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Circle 29 on reader service card 



2929 Campus Drive Suite 250 
San Mateo, CA 94403 
415/570-7736 415/570-7787 (fax) 
800/366-2279 




SIMSON00002076 







Mure .ft , V a I u in e 4 Is a n e 



contents 



Feature 



Market Freeze-frame 17 

Where the wild things arc: the top SO NEXTSTEP 

customer sites 

BY PA U I, C U R T H O Y S 

Dock Soup returns: a recap of major NeXTWORLD 
reviews, and how you can get your hands on all those products 

by Beth Kamoroff and Dan Lavin 



Community 



Real World: Finding a Systems Integrator 6 

How to get your NEXTSTEP project off and running with the 
big - and not-so-big - systems integrators 

by Paul Karon 

. Commentary: The Sun Also Rises 8 

A Sun user reflects on NEXTSTEP'S role in the renaissance 
of the SPARC community 

by S a m G u s t m a n 



News 



NeXTWORLD Extra 13 

NeXT shows PA-RISC while HP covers its bets 



Work Processing 9 

For developer Sarrus Software, the groupware medium 
is the message 

b y L f e Sherman 



Plus New in Shrinkivrap and On the Net 



Reviews 



Focus on the Forest 26 

Spreadsheets let you examine the financial details; 

WhiteLight/Engineer rolls them up into a powerful 

enterprise model 

b y Dan Rub y 

A China Hand for NEXTSTEP 27 

jie-Fu Corporation's CHIN Aware brings Chinese language and 
character support to the NEXTSTEP work environment 

by Rick Reynolds 

All Good Data Needs a Great Safety Net 30 

Systemix Software's SafetyNet gives you a tool for the most 
mission-critical application of all: backing up 

r y S e t h T . Ross 



Reviews Desk 31 






Viewpoints 



The NeXT World 3 

Dan Ruby reads the pulse of the current NeXT market 

Lip Service 4 

Readers' forum 

Developer Camp 24 

Simson Garfinkel Jesses up to being a Windows watcher 

NeXT Ink 25 

Dan Lavin gets under the HP-Taligent deal 

Vanishing Point 36 

John Perry Barlow gets a tour through the Magic kingdom 

NeXT Games 36 

Scott Kim turns "mitt sock " around 



Cover Letterpress by Digital Engraving 
Photography by David Magnosson 



SIMSON00002077 



WestleWordPerfect 
Fut2withftameMakef 

Or simply use Pages™ 




"Pages represents a breakthrough 

in document processing that should appeal 

to users at all levels" 

NeXTWORLD Jim J 993 



instant Pages - just add content... watch fully formed pages take 

shape- before your very eyes" 

Publish Magazine 
"What you see is what you really wanted... 

Pages is one of the best arguments for NeXT" 

Ester Dyson, Release J.O 



"Impressive user interface... the system offers a lot of 
innovative ideas and solid functionality" 



"Awesome in its simplicity 1 ' 



SaixM Report 
Bene & Rhodes Report 



Call now for our special introductory offer 

800772-5335 





Pages. Software he, 9755 CUircrticmt Mesa Blvd., San Die«o, CA 921 24 USA 

Pages is a trademark of Pages Software Ine 

WordPerfect is a trademark of WordPerfect, Inc. FrameMaker is-a trademark of Frame Tcclwology Corp. 

Circle 59 on reader service card 



2 MXTWOBU MARCH 1994 







Vol. 4, No. 3 MARCH 1994 

President Gordon Haight 

Publisher Jeannine Barnard 

Editor in Chief Daniel Ruby 

EDITORIAL 

Managing Editor Eliot Bergson 

Senior Reviews Editor Dan Lavin 

Associate Designer Beth Karnoroff 

Assistant Editor Paul Curthoys 

Senior Coatributing Editor Simson L. Garfinkel 

Contributing Editors Joe Bareilo, John Perry Barlow, 

Tony Bove and Cheryl Rhodes, Ben Caiica, 

M Calling, Daniel Miles Kehoe, Scott Kirn, Robert Lauriston, 

Charles L Perkins, Rick Reynolds, Seth Ross, 

Lee Sherman 

ART AND DESIGN 

Earl Office San Francisco, California 

PRODUCTION 

Director of Manufacturing Jayne Boyer 
Manufacturing Manager Hilal Sala 
Advertising Coordinator David Zink 

ADVERTISING SALES 

Associate Publisher Steve Fricke 

415/267-1784 

Western Sales Manager Laurie Eddy 

415/978-3188 

ADMINISTRATION 

Operations Manager Graciek Eulate 

Director of Informacion Services Kevin Greene 

IMI Corporate Manager Batel Libes 

circulation 

Circulation Manager Catherine Huchting 

Single Copy Sales Director George Clark 

Single Copy Sales Representative Marty Garcher 

Circulation Assistant Jason Paul Muscat 

IDG CORPORATE ADMINISTRATION 

Director of Finance Vicki Peilen 

Financial Analyst Madeleine Buckingham 

Accounting Manager Pat Murphy 

To reach NeXTWORLD by mail or courier, use this address: NeXTWORLD, 501 Second St., San 
Francisco, CA 94107. You can also contact NeXTWORLD via die Internet at nextworld@ne.xrworld. 
com, via MCI mail at NEXTWORLD, or via fax at415/978-31%. NeXTWORLD is published month- 
ly by Integrated Media, 501 Second St., San Francisco, CA 94107, a subsidiary of IDG Communications, 
the world leader in information services on information technology. Basic subscription rate is $39.90 
for 12 monthly issues. Foreign orders must be prepaid in U.S. funds with additional postage. For 
Canada, add S15. .All other foreign orders, add $40 for airmail and $15 for surface delivery. Fax 
415/442-1891 to charge VISA/MC. For new subscriptions or subscriber-service questions, call toll-free 
800/685-3435; in Tennessee or from outside the U.S., call 615/377-3322; write P.O. Box 5038, Brentwood, 
TN 37024-98 17; or e-mail subscrip@tiextworld.com. Application to mail at Second Class postage rates 
pending at San Francisco and additional mailing offices. For permission to quote or reproduce editori- 
al material from NeXTWORLD, send a written request stating the issue date, article, page ntim- 
berls'l, and exact text of the material to: Reprints and Permissions, NeXTWORLD Production, 501 
Second St., San Francisco, CA 94107. For back issues of NeXTWORLD, write to: Back Issues, 
NeXTWORLD Circulation; $8 per issue; SIS per issue outside U.S. prepaid, POSTMASTER: 
Send address changes to NeXTWORLD, P.O. Box 5038, Brentwood, TN 37024-9817 or call 615/377- 
3322. Editorial and business offices: 501 Second St., San Fran«sco,CA 94107; 415/243-0600. 
NeXTWORLD is a publication of Integrated Media. Printed in the United States of America. 
NeXTWORLD is a trademark of JNeXT and is used under license. This publication is not affiliated 
with NeXT. Copyright © 1994 Integrated Media. All rights reserved. Canadian GST #124669433, 



IDG; W01 

NeXTWORLD is s publication oi International Data Group, the 
worlds largest publisher of computer-related information and the 
leading global provider of information services on information 
technology. International Data Group publishes over 194 com 
puter publications in Q counlties. Forty' million people read one 
or more International Data Group publications each month. 
international Data Group's publications include; ARGENTI- 
NA'S Computerworld Argentina, infoworld Argentina; .ASIA'S 
Comoutervvofld Hong Kong, PC World Hong Kong, 
Compurcrworid .Southeast .Asia, PC Worid Singapore, 
Computerworld Malaysia, PC World Malaysia; AUSTRALIA'S 
Computerworld Australia, Australian PC World. Australian 
Macworld, Network World, Reseller, IDG Sources; AUSTRIA'S 
Cantputetwelt Oesterrach, PCTes;: BRAZIL'S Computerworld. 
Mundo IBM, Mundo Unix, PC World, Publish; BULGARIA'S 
Conip.iterwarld Bulgaria, Ediworid,PC 8c Mac World Bidgana; 
CANADA'S Direct Access, Graduate Computerworld. 
InfoCanada, Network World Canada; CHILE'S Computerworld, 
inlcirmatrca; COLOMBIA'S Computerworld Columbia; CZECH 
REPUBLIC'S Computerworld, Elektronika, PC World, DEN- 
MARK'S CAD/CAM WORLD, Communications World, 
Computerworld Denmark, LOTUS World, Macintosh 
Produktkatalog, Macworld Daiunark. PC World Danniark, PC 
World Produktguide, Windows World; ECUADOR'S PC World; 
EG YETS Computerworld Middle East. PC World Middle East: 
FINLAND'S MikroPC, Tietoviiltkq, Tietoverklto; TRANCE'S 
Distributiquc, GOLDEN MAC liifoPC, languages it Systems, 
Le Guide du Monde Inlorniattqut, Lc Mnitdc Infotmatique, 
Telecoms & Reseaufq GERMANY'S Ctimputeiwoche, 
Computerwoche Focus, Computerwcche Extra, Comriutcrwochc 
Karnere, Information Management, Macweit, Netzwe.lt, PC 
Welt, PC Woche, Publish, Unit; HUNGARY'S Alaplap, 
Computerworld SZT, PC World; INDIA'S Computers 6c 
Communications; ISRAEL'S Coinpurerworld Israel, PC World 
Israel; ITALY'S Computerworld Italia. Lotus Magazine, 
Macworld Italia, Networking Italia, PC World Italia; JAPAN'S 
Computerworld Japan, Macworld Japan, SunWorld Japan, 
Windows World; KENYA'S East African Computet News; 
KOREA'S Computerworld Korea, Macworld Korea, PC World 
Korea; MEXICO'S Compti Edicion, Cratipu Msnulactura, 
Computaeion/PuiiKi de Venn, Computerworld Mexico, 



LBWIBE 

MacWorlri Mundo Unix, PC Wodd, Windows; THE NETHER- 
LAND'S Computer! Totaal, LAN Magazine, MacWotld; NEW 
ZEALAND'S Computer Listings, Computerworld New Zealand, 
New Zealand PC World; NIGERIA'S PC World Africa; NOR- 
WAY'S Coniputerworid Norge, OWorld, Lutusworld Norge, 
Macworld Norge, Nerworld, PC World Ekspress, PC World 
Norge, PC World's Product Guide, Publish World, Student Data, 
Unix World. Windowsworid; IDG Direct Response; PANAMA'S 
PC World; PERU'S Computerworld Peru, PC World; PEOPLE'S 
REPUBLIC OF CHINA'S China Computerworld, PC Wuild 
China, Electronics International, China Netwotk World; LDG 
HIGH TECH BEIJING'S New Product World; IDG SHEN- 
ZHEN'S Computer News Digest: PHILLIPPINE'S 
Computerworld, PC World, POLA NO'S Corapurerworld Poland, 
PC World/Kompurcr; PORTUGAL'S Coebro/PC World, Correio 
InformaticQ/Computerworld, Macln; ROMANIA'S PC World, 
RUSSLA'S Compaterworld-Moscow, Mir - PC, Scty; SLOYE- 
NLA'S Monitor Magazine; SOUTH AFRICA'S Giuipiinng S.A.: 
SPAIN'S Amiga World, Computerworld Espina, 
Cammunicaciaues World, Macworld Espana, NeX I WORLD, 
PC World Espana, Publish, SunWorld; SWEDEN'S Attack. 
CoropaterSweden, Corporate Computing, Lokala Natrerk/LAN, 
Lotus World, MAC&PC, Macworld, M.ktodatorn, PC World, 
Publishing & Design (CAP), Datalngen|oren, Maxi Data. 
Windows World; SWITZERLAND'S Computerworld Schwcti 
Macworld Sdiweiz, PC Sf. Workstation; TAIWAN'S 
Computerwtirld Taiwan, Global Computer Express, PC World 
Taiwan; THAILAND'S Thai Computerworhi; TURKEY'S 
Computerworld Monitor, Macworld Turkiye, PC World Turkijt; 
UKRAINE'S Computerworld; UNITED KINGDOM'S Lotus 
Magazine, Macworld, SunWorld; UNITED STATES" 
ArmgaWorld, Cable m the Clajsroom, CD Review, CIO, 
Computerworld, Desktop Video World, DOS Resource Guide, 
Electronic News. Federal Computer Week, Federal Integrator, 
GainePro, IDG Books, Infowcirld, Infowotld Direct, Laser Etent, 
Macworld, Multimedia World. Network World, NeXTWORLD, 
PC Games, PC Letter, PC World, Publish, Sumeria, SunWodd, 
SWATPro, Video Event; VENEZUELA'S Computerworld 
Venezuela. MkroComputerwotld Venezuela; VIETNAM'S PC 
World Vietnam. 






SIMSON00002078 



THE NeXT W 



L 




ost months, we at NeXTWORLD find ourselves caught up in 
the issue of the moment - the latest twist or turn in the long- 
running soap opera we call the NeXT market. These monthly 
blips on the screen provide a nearly real-time reading of the 
flow of events. 

In our role as the chronicler of the evolving NeXT world, we periodi- 
cally take a moment to present a stop-action snapshot of the market. This 
is when we dip our measuring rods into the available data to provide bench- 
marks for evaluating the progress of various market segments. 

We did this last in our Summer 1 992 issue 
with NeXTWORLD's first listing of top 
NEXTSTEP customer sites. This time, we've 
broken out the top 50 sites by industry group- 
ing, to give a better idea of the breadth of the 
NeXT market. Research on the list was done 
entirely in-house by Assistant Editor Paul 
Curthoys, with direction from Managing Edi- 
tor Eliot Bergson. Because customer lists are 
so proprietary, we got very little help from 
NeXT itself or from any of the major third- 
party vendors. Therefore, the list is composed 



Pilgrim's 
Progress 



Dan R u b i 



of publicly known sites for which we were able to acquire verifiable data. 
For our second market benchmark in this issue, we update another 
NeXTWORLD tradition with the return of Dock Soup, a comprehensive 
index of rated NEXTSTEP products drawn from the last 18 months of 
NeXTWORLD product reviews. Ever since we dropped Dock Soup as a 
monthly feature, we have heard regular requests from readers to bring it 
back. For those of you who have had to search through back issues to find 
a dimly remembered review, it will serve as a handy reference guide to ship- 
ping NEXTSTEP products. The list was compiled by Associate Designer Beth 
Kamoroff, with direction from Senior Reviews Editor Dan Lavin. 



In our previous market snapshot, we included a customer survey cov- 
ering attitudes and buying trends. While we plan such a research project 
this year, it was not ready for inclusion in this issue. 

Customers and third-party products are the two of the most reliable 
measures of the strength of this market. Unfortunately, because of the lag 
time involved in both software development and customer-purchase cycles, 
both measures are trailing indicators. Recent activity that may be very 
promising is not reflected in the listings. 'Thus, we don't see many of NeXT's 
newest customer sites, where today's small prototype project may turn into 

tomorrow's enterprisewide deployment. Nor 
does Dock Soup reveal the many interesting 
software products that have been announced 
but are not yet shipping. 

Looking at the lists, I am struck once 
again by the sense of transition. A lot of 
monthly blips have passed since our last sur- 
vey, including the cataclysm that hit almost 
exactly one year ago. Therefore, we find 
missing from the lists many prominent names 
from NEXTSTEP'S past. On the other hand, 
we find here the old standbys - the Swiss 



Banks and William Morrises, the HSDs and Insignias - that have weathered 
the storm and emerged ready for the new challenge. Finally, lead time or not, 
we see the beginnings of a new roster of players who are signing up for the 
challenge of the object future. 

This year, NeXT will ship its foundation product on two new platforms 
and further define its leadership position in the emerging object wars. Next 
year, when we once again get out our measuring rods, we'll see how much 
impact these developments have had on the growth of the NeXT market. % 

Dan Ruby is NeXTWORLD s editor in chief. 




THE WAIT IS OVER! 

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Netlnfo is a trademark of NeXT Computer, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of Iheir respective owners 

Circle 78 on reader service card 



,ii« H E-Mail: info@blcksmtfi.com 

Uli UlWlUllli Voice: (800} $194147(702} 524-6147 
1 2100 Lee Highway 'Suite 201 • Arlington, VA 22201 



Circle 86 on reader service card 



MARCH 7994 KHTIMI ? 

SIMSON00002079 



Relations support 

I've just read Simson GarfinkePs 
comments in NeXWORLD ("How 
NeXT Plays Favorites," January 
1994), and I disagree with the general 
sense of the article. 

The best book about marketing 
for software developers that 1 know is 
The Macintosh Way by Guy Kawasaki, 
and I've compared it to NeXT-devel- 
oper strategies over the last five years. 
I can only say that Kawasaki was 
exactly right. He probably would have 
chosen to support Lighthouse Design, 
RightBrain, Appsoft, Pages, etc., a 
long time ago, rather than spending 
time and money on WordPerfect. 

If I remember it correctly, one of 
the main lessons of the book was: 
Every platform needs to build its own 
heroes. And only very few companies 
are successful with cross-platform 
applications. 

The PC market created its own 
software heroes, which became giant 
companies: Borland, Microsoft, Lotus, 
Ashton-Tate, WordPerfect, etc. None 
of them has been very successful on 
other platforms (except Microsoft on 
Macintosh). Apple failed with Ashton- 
Tate, Borland, and Lotus, though it 
tried very hard to get them onto the 
Mac. In the end, they succeeded with 
newcomers like Aldus, Adobe, Quark, 
and Symantec. 

NeXT made the same experience. 
(Or should I say mistake?) It will not 
succeed with Lotus, WordPerfect, or 
Frame. And not with Aldus and Adobe 
either. The NeXT heroes will be Light- 
house, Pages, Athena, OTI, etc. 

The developer meeting in San Jose 
in November showed this clearly. It 
was a meeting of NEXTSTEP-only de- 
velopers. And the message of the meet- 
ing was not that it was restricted to 
40 companies, but that NeXT should 
have focused on these companies a 
long time ago. 

NeXT should extend its developer 
marketing to the VAR-type develop- 
ers now, because they have their own 
vertical markets. I think the Object 
Channel is maybe a good approach to 
this. The "support your own heroes" 
strategy is not only true for software 
developers. The same thing holds for 
distribution. 

WlLFRIED BEECK 
d'ART Software GmbH 
Hamburg, Germany 



L E I T E 

Arrows of outrageous 
fortune 

If, as John Perry Barlow pointed out 
("Frontier Justice," NeXTWORLD, 
January 1994), pioneers get the arrows, 
then I've got a back full. 

I've wanted a NeXT machine 
since I saw a picture of the first Cube, 
and I spent the better part of a year 
trying to convince my boss to let me 
try a NeXT machine. Finally, when it 
was announced that NEXTSTEP for 
Intel would be available at the '93 
NeXTWORLD Expo, he relented. 

In April, I bought a '486 from Dell 
that was configured according to what 
NeXT and Dell had published. In May, 
I arrived at the Expo and was amazed 
by the small number of products that 
were actually slipping for NEXTSTEP 
for Intel. Several soft- 
ware vendors told me 
to call them after the 
Expo, and they would 
give me a "special" 
price on a beta version. 
This was in stark con- 
trast to everything that 
I'd read about NEXT- 
STEP - it was sup- 
posed to be "almost 
trivial" to port from 
black hardware to 
Intel machines. 

And Dell, my 
hardware vendor, had 
several salesmen run- 
ning around who 
couldn't answer a sin- 
gle question - even 
simple ones. I didn't 
think that my com- 
puter would run 
NEXTSTEP, even 
though I did everything that Dell and 
NeXT said to do. 

When I returned home from the 
Expo, NEXTSTEP refused to load. 
Several phone calls to NeXT and Dell 
proved fruitless. Finally, out of des- 
peration, I removed my video card and 
have been living with 8-bit black-and- 
white since. 

On the software side, I called Pages 
Software as recently as December 23 
to order Pages. The person 1 talked to 
told me, "Pages is not shipping, and I 
have no idea when it will ship." How- 
can I or anyone else talk our bosses 
into switching platforms when we can't 
even get a decent word-processing 
package for NeXT? 

If I were Steve Jobs, I'd give soft- 




ware houses free copies of NEXTSTEP 
and the developer tools. I'd also send 
an engineer to see they get everything 
installed. Then I'd offer free developer 
training. Borland would probably be 
a good place to start: Kahn must bate 
Gates as much as Jobs does. 

Barry Vinson 
New Iberia, Louisiana 

Learning curve 

I'm glad Alex Duong Nghiem took the 
time to set the record straight. NeXT- 
STEP Programming: Concepts and 
Applications is very different from 
NeXTSTEP Programming Step One: 
Object-Oriented Applications. They 
both deserve space in my library. 
Being a nonprogrammer that is 
determined to learn 
NEXTSTEP pro- 
gramming, the Gar- 
finkel and Mahoney 
book moved much 
too fast too soon. 
Sure, I could follow 
along and build 
all of the sample 
apps, but I didn't un- 
derstand why I was 
doing what I was 
doing. About half- 
way through, I put 
the book down and 
picked up Alex's, 

Yes, at times the 
reading seems slow, 
and, yes, I kept ask- 
ing myself why I was 
coding something I 
knew I could do in 
InterfaceBuilder. In 
the midst of my la- 
menting, I would receive a flash of in- 
sight that would help me understand 
what Simson and Michael were doing 
or what all the fuss is over Interface- 
Builder. 

I'm now working my way through 
NeXTSTEP Programming Step One: 
Object-Oriented Applications again. 
This time the examples make more 
sense, and I can more easily keep up 
with the fast pace. The OOA and 
OOD background Alex provided has 
made all the difference. 

Michael A. Duke 
Big Flats, New York 

Mentoring philosophy 

I want to clarify a statement in the 
December cover story ("Phase 
Changes," NeXTWORLD, Decem- 
ber 1993) describing how customers 



learn to develop NEXTSTEP appli- 
cations. In the "Phase II: Develop- 
ment" section of the piece, I am quoted 
as saying, "If everyone got rid of their 
first application, they'd be better pro- 
grammers." What I was describing 
was a development philosophy: That 
by not tying yourself too tightly to an 
initial implementation, you can feel 
free to search for better solutions. 
This is the purpose of NeXT's 
Mentorship program. We help devel- 
opers who are new to NEXTSTEP 
explore design and implementation 
issues and prototype ideas in the safety 
of the classroom, without corporate 
pressure. We help developers com- 
plete the first cycle of a small part of 
their corporate project, so that they 
can learn the philosophy, described 
above, as well as the technology. 

Scott Weiner 
NeXT Computer 
Redwood City, California 

Power over interface 

With reference to the review "Stereo 
Choices" (NeXTWORLD, January 
1994), Lee Sherman says that "solid- 
Thinking is perhaps the most powerful 
modeler available for NEXTSTEP, 
but even intermediate users may find 
it daunting." For many of our users, 
solidThinking MODELER was the 
first 3-D modeler and renderer they 
ever used. It's true that our program 
has a lot of commands, but you are 
not required to use all of them to obtain 
high-quality photorealistic images. 

We know that our interface can 
be improved, and very soon we will 
introduce solidThinking Release 2 to 
fill this gap (iconified interface, drag 
and drop, etc.), but we don't believe 
the interface should become the first 
parameter to judge an application. We 
want to satisfy the production needs 
before those of the eyes. 

Alex Mazzardo 
GESTEL Italia 
Venice, Italy 









For the record 

In the January 1994 "New in Shrink- ' 
wrap," the phone number for Do- 
berman Systems was incorrect. The 
correct number is 801/944-4329. 

NeXTWORLD welcomes your comments, 
Mail them to Letters at NeXTWORLD, 
501 Second St., San Francisco, CA 
94107; or e-mail letters@nextworld.coi 

- 



MARCH 1994 




SIMSON00002080 



To Backup 50 GB, Two Recording 
Heads Are Better Than One. 



Single: 


Cascade: 


Drives can 


Data automatically writes 


operate 


to the second tape when 


independently. 


the first tape is full. 



Mirroring: 

Writes the same data 
to both tapes 
simultaneously. 



Striping: 

Writes data to two tapes at 
once, in alternate blocks, 
doubling capacity and speed. 



> Mr i te-M i rrored EOT 18.2 Cor-ip 

25,486 MB Regaining 1196 KB/S 69.3 X ECC 



> Write-Mirrored BOT 10.2 Copf 

25.489 MB Renaming 1199 KB/S 99,3 % ECC 



CY-8505 



Introducing the dual drive 
CY-8505 with the Advanced SCSI 
Processor. 

Working independently, each 
drive can store up to 25 GB, at speeds 
of up to 90 MB per minute. So it's 
perfect for unattended backup. 

But performance really hits the 
ceiling when the drives work together. 

Four selectable recording modes, 
plus offline copy and verify, give you 
the flexibility to write 50 GB of data 
any way you need to. 



Consider it a data storage 
management tool, a solution that will 
solve the problems you encounter 
even-' day. The need for higher 
capacity and speed; the need to make 
duplicate tapes for off-site storage 
and data exchange: the need for real- 
time status information-and the 
need to save resources and boost 
productivity on every level . 

Each tape drive offers the most 
advanced in data recording technol- 
ogy. Our hardware data compression 



TRUE COMPATIBILITY WITH 



Ian! 
Alpha Micro 
Alios 



Arix 

AT&T 

Basic-4 

Concurrent 



Convergent 
DataGeneral 
DEC SCSI 
DEC Bl-Bus 
DECDS5S 
DEC HSC 
DEC Q-Bus 



DEC Unibus IBM S/38 feXT Pertec STC 

Gould/Encore ICl Novell PICK Stratus 

HP Intergraph OS/2 Plexus Sun 

IBM AS/400 Macintosh PS/2 Prime Texas 

IBM Mainframe McDonnell Parallel Port Pyramid Instruments 

IBM RISC/ Douglas PC 386/lx Sequent Unisys 

Motorola PC MS-DOS Silicon Ultimate 

I RT NCR PC Xenix/Unix Graphics Wang— and more 



KfPiPfW 



Rock Landing Corporate Center • 1 1846 Rock Landing • Newport News. VA 23606 • Fax: (804) 873-8836 



option is the fastest available. And it's 
switch-selectable, so you can read 
and write uncompressed data for 
compatibility with other sites. Add 
accelerated file access to locate a single 
file in an average of 85 seconds. And 
\w even offer a data encryption option 
that lets you control access to 
sensitive data. 

All this, and the proven reliability 
and price performance of 8mm 
helical scan tape storage. 

We back this turnkey solution 
with a two year warranty that in- 
cludes responsive service and 
technical support from our in-house 
engineering group. 

If you need a data storage 
solution that means business, call 
today for more information at: 

(804) 873-9000 

CONTEMPORARY 

CYBERNETICS 



Circle 25 on reader service card 



SIMSON00002081 



■I 



1 



: 






,: <H 



Finding a Systems 
Integrator 

S E R V I C E S A N~D S~0 F T~W A R E 



When designing and building a complex information system under 
NEXTSTEP, you can either plan and run the job yourself, using a combi- 
nation of in-house programmers and outside consultants, or hire a systems 
integrator (SI) to assume responsibility for the whole project. 

But if you do decide to go with a systems integrator, proceed with cau- 
tion: The choice of an SI will probably be the single most important deci- 
sion you'll make in your NEXTSTEP strategy - as well as one of the 
most expensive. 

"The cost of going to NEXTSTEP is not the $795 for the software, or 
even $2495," says Roger Coates, coordinator of technical management 
for PanCanadian Petroleum of Calgary, Alberta. a The real cost of going to 
NEXTSTEP is the cost of skills." 

Contracts with systems integrators vary, but under the typical agreement, 
an SI commits to the delivery of a specified level of system functionality, by 
a specified date, for a specified price. Other elements of training and support 
are often part of the overall contract as well 

You pay Sis not only for their experience 
and expertise but to assume the risk that the job 
will come in successfully and on time. It's up to 
the SI to find and manage all of the systems-de- 
velopment and programming talent. 

So how do you choose a systems integrator? 
"The most important thing is that the sys- 
tems integrator has a base of experience in the 
specific kinds of projects you want done," says 
Mark Potenzone, NeXT's East Coast Object 




1 1 i » 8 * 









and* 

t i l 




Object Channel firms - Central 

Information Technology 
Solutions, Chicago IL 

Logibec, Verdun, Quebec 

MeXT, Mexico Cm 

Pencom Systems, Austin, TX 

Single Source Systems, 
Indian afolis 

All Object Channel firms pro- 
vide services regionally, nation- 
ally, and internationally. 



re your Sis are realistic in judging their own capabilities and 
in estimating what sort of time and effort the project will require, suggests 
McCaw's Petursson. Then for good measure, he says, expect it to take a 
little longer. 

"The basic sales pitch of the systems integrator is that they've solved 
every problem ten times before and have already made all the mistakes," says 
PanCanadian's Coates. "But the truth of the mat- 
ter is, nobody has done this ten times before with 
object programming to have made all the mis- 
takes -it's all too new." 

Like any other emerging technology, real 
knowledge in object development and NEXTSTEP 
programming is scarce and valuable. "That's one of 
the costs of being on the leading edge," Coates says. 

Those in the business of hiring systems inte- 
grators have found ample cause for caution. 
"Many [SI J companies will tell you they do objects, 



Object Channel firms - West 

Ail Technologies, Burnaby, 
BC 

B.E.S.T. Consulting, Bellevue, 
WA 

DCS Systems, Calgary, Alberta 

Omni Development 
Corporation, Seattle 

Systemhoose, Boulder, CO 

Trident Data Systems, Los 
Angeles 

TRW, Redondo Beach, CA 



Channel representative. NeXT recently assembled the Object Channel to 
identify and aid systems integrators working in the NEXTSTEP environ- 
ment through training, joint sales calls, and other avenues (see charts). 

In. a perfect world, you would always be able to find a systems inte- 
grator who has experience in your industry. But in real life, it may still be 
necessary to use a systems integrator who has experience in your field but 
is relatively new to NEXTSTEP programming. Customers caution that the 
people who will work on your project should possess strong object-ori- 
ented programming experience. 

s Tf you can find an integrator who has done some Smalltalk, C, and C++ 
code, then you can get some pretty good work out 
of them in NEXTSTEP," says Ingvar Petursson, 
vice-president and chief information officer at 
McCawCellular. "Trie NEXTSTEP world is pretty 
easy to pick up." 

The more time you spend defining your needs 
and the project as a whole, the better off you will 
be - and that includes writing a clear, complete, 
and precise project outline. The better you define 
your goals, the more likely an SI will be able to 
make an accurate bid with a complete solution, 
according to NeXT's Potenzone. 

It's also important to allow for the unex- 
pected. Once you've selected an SI, make sure 
your contract includes clear procedures for adjust- 
ing prices and schedules to accommodate changes. 
Customers explain that everybody in this busi- 
ness is still learning as they go along - and that 
includes systems integrators. 



Object Channel firms - East 

Advance 2000, Wiluamsvillf, 

NY 

Advanced Information 
Solutions, Boston 

The Apex Group, Columbia, MD 

B Cubed, Woodbridge, NJ 

Digicom Corporation, 
Bethesda, MD 

Dilan, Hickory, NC 

Dijpllfax/Canon, Burlingtok, N] 

Information Management, 
Atlanta 

NorthStar, New York 

Offkenet, Ipswich, MA 

Proxima, McLean, VA 

Rapid System Solutions, 
Columbia, MD 

RDR, Fairfax, VA 

Synex, Columbia, MD 



they do client-server, and so on," says McCaw's Petursson. "But what you 
find out is they've only scratched the. surface of object programming, and 
they haven't done mission-critical applications either." 

Although by no means the only Sis worth looking at, those on NeXT's 
Object Channel list are probably all good bets, assuming they mesh with 
your project needs. "The companies in NeXT's Object Channel are all, as 
Garrison Keillor would say, above average," says Petursson. 

In selecting a systems integrator, safety does not necessarily come in 
numbers. It may be human nature to view the larger SI firms m more secure, 
but since true NEXTSTEP expertise is still relatively rare, it is just as likely 
that smaller, specialized Sis, with fewer but more highly skilled developers, 
will prove to be the superior choice for your job. 

Finally, keep in mind that you're not just hiring a systems integrator - 
you're hiring a team of programmers and developers. For this reason, you 
should insist on knowing the backgrounds and experience of the specific 
individuals who will be working on your job. If a company wants to load 
up the project with lots of junior programmers^ you. may not be getting 
your money's worth. 

"You can't get around the fact that the big guys will be able to manage 
the risk for you," says Petursson. "But you've got to make sure they don't 
treat it like another [traditional-system] method - one where they say the? 
can just throw all the people in the world at the project until it's done." 

No one SI firm is perfect for every job, and any firm that portrays itself 
as such should probably be eyed very closely, according to the Information 
Technology Association of America, an Arlington, Virginia-based trade asso- 
ciation of computer software and service companies. 

There are a million sorts of agreements you can enter into with a sys- 
tems integrator. But for the marriage to work out, make sure you and your 
SI are in exact agreement regarding what is expected, when, and for how 
much. A 



fry Paul Karon 

Real Worid is a continuing series that looks at the nuts-and-bolts issues of 
implementing NEXTSTEP solutions in large organizations. 






6 mm MARCH 1994 



Photograph by Stuart Watson 




SIMSON00002082 




C I I V HI W 



New in Shrinkwrap 



January 1 to February 1 



wot, Communications. 
| and Emit a nox 

MindSharb 1.0 

Groupware for collaboration environmmr 

Pangea Corporation 

703/256-6871 

Telcom 1.1 
I Far-binary telecommunications app 

Zion Software 
I 203/659-4257 

Database and Information 
Management 

Bar-a-Coda 2.0d 

Redesigned app for bar-code creation 
Hot Technologies 
52-0088 

Publishing and Graphics 



GraphRightI.I 

Latest version of business graphing 

application 
Watershed Technologies 
508/460-9612 

HypfkSense PR 9 

Upgrade to authoring software for multi- 
media documents 
Thoughtful Software 
303/221-4596 

OCR Express! 1. 

Intelligent character-recognition software 

Visual Understanding Systems 

412/488-3600 



Pencoat Software 

512/343-6666 

Man 2.0 
Fat-binary upgrade of programming tool 
Xante International 
46/8/635-3000 

The Graph Object Library 

Object library for graph layout and data 

display 
WI 
814/234-9613 

OTStringKit 

String-manipuiation tool for developers 
Objective Technologies 
212/227-6767 

Peripherals 

fXTRAPRINTPRI 

Drivers for Canon and HP laser printers 

GS Corporation 

415/257-4700 

UmrnES 



Mission Critical Solitaire 1.0 
Object-oriented design of the card game 
White Light Systems 
415/321-2183 



Sah-tyNetII 

Fat-binar/ upgrade of utility for 

files to tape drives 
Systemix Software 
410/290-8813 



up 



Tools and Languages 


Have a new shipping product? Let us 


co-Xist3.2 


know at 4i5f978-3 1 H7 or hv e-mail at 


Intel version of X Windows implementa- 


■ kamorofj%Kxtvnrid.co>n. 


tion for NEXTSTEP 
ImsmnoN »v Gordon Stiuifr 





Sarins Introduces a Powerful 
Idea in Scheduling. 




Simplicity. 



Other scheduling software 
promises you power — if you're 
willing to give up ease of use. We 
developed Pencil Me In™ because 
you told us you needed both. 

The ROI of Croup Scheduling 

Enterprises from small businesses 
to the Fortune 1000 are discover- 
ing that group scheduling gives 
them a tangible return on their 
investment. Why? Because people 
who work in groups spend a large 
part of each work day coordi- 
nating meetings, juggling action 
items, and hunting down con- 
ference rooms. Group scheduling 
software makes these tasks more 
efficient for individuals and for 
whole organizations. 

Power and Ease of Use 

Pencil Me In is the leader in group 
scheduling on NEXTSTEP" for a 
simple reason. It's the only 
product that gives you the power 



of true enterprise scheduling with 
the simplicity of a paper time 
planner. 

API to integrate Custom Apps 

And now, with the Pencil Me In 
API, programmers can integrate 
Pencil Me In with mission-critical 
applications on their users' desk- 
tops. And that means, quite 
simply, greater leverage. 

Call Us for a Free Demo 

Our customers love Pencil Me In. 
We think you will too. Call us at 
1-800-995-1963 for a demo of 
Pencil Me In. And simplify 
everyone's life. 

Pencil Me In 

Group Scheduling for NEXTSTEP. 

Sarrus Software, Inc. 

565 Pilgrim Drive, Suite C 
Foster City, CA 94404 
SARRUS (415) 345-895D 

SOFTWARE info@sarrus.com 




© Copyright 1993, Sarrus Software, inc. All Rights Reserved, Pencil Me In is a trademark of Sarrus Software, Inc. 
NEXTSTEP is a trademark of NeXT Computer. Inc. 



Circle 73 on reader service card 



SIMSON00002083 



m 



The Sun Also Rises 



HAVE HAD .ONE; 

if graphical interface 
tpciated to a totally 



Sun 



commit 



benialviii| 

the Army 

looking in 

prosi 

23*2 Miicai 



Lfted swearing in tandem. When ail was said and 
tart-learning about NEXISTEP and* fignreputwhy Sun 
delighted to find that Sun was actually going to 



;ventualH 



teciinofoc? as a 



.nd modeling problems with radar for 
r e had already been 
solution to some of 
nusiniiGeo- 



ath other mod- 
of lie real 




5m is /temventtng itself tor its users, an 

iny of lis realize that the movers for i 

the typewriter to the word, processor or fi 

servermodeljtfe move to objects is a pai 

future -benefits. If Sun 

it will be viewed as Di 



»wn good. Like going from 
:he mainframe to the client- 
one, with, a lot of promised 
einvent its desktop software,-, 
is now - a company that 3 
ng three popular operating 
nteroperabiiity; People have 
--stem problems that Digital 



with 



t£i:& 



• Sam fiusiman 



addressed. line solution we have 
ijects Everywhere (DOE), But it 
; functionality is incomplete. The 
opmenr capabilities into the dis- 



processes over the network was also f> 
been looking forward to is Distributee 

is only available at beta sites, and I he£ 
adoption of NEXTSTEP moves our d 
tribttted-object realm : ,on a hardened. platform 
There are methods behind Sun's madness 
been keenly aware of the problems its users 3 
such, organizations as the' Open ' GIS Foundatio 
.attempt to unify spatial- and temporal-modeling and analysis solutions usinj 
object technology. Support. and investments into technology by companies 
Xand IONA (a designer of Object Request Brokers in. Ireland) give 



lis case).; Sun has 



heading the 



.tee into account the possi 
tor long. This situation fostei 



typing skills. It's interesting that NEXTSTEP, whicr 

liardwafe-fsiatfarm consistency, ^WOpid end a 
has equivalent software profejems.. Maybe 
platform on which to get our work done, & 



u£V8lOpfttBTlt JOT: tuB (jBQphySlCili he 

Research Und Engineering Lab' for il, 
over, New Hampshire. Bis group us 



it even their OS may not be around 
mt encapsulation and quick proton- 
; been sufeffflg-iroitf; 



earned with a companv 



ibie 



KSm'4s.egiO}i 



engineers m 

itions. 




The Future Of Client-Server Database 

Technology 



GUPTA 



PARABASg 



PARABASE. The highest rated graphical front-end tor NeXTSTEP. 

Parabase is perfect for creating fully integrated custom applications for both single and multi 
user systems. It is designed to seamlessly operate as a client to Sybase, Oracle, Interbase 
and Gupta SQLBase Server taking full advantage of the client-server architecture. So you 
can begin working with your existing data in no time, or expand from a single user to multiple 
users without changing a thing. It's so easy you can build and manage an entire database 
application • including tables, graphical forms & reports, queries, scripts, buttons and pick 
lists - all without leaving your mouse. You can size, resize, arrange and rearrange the fields 
on your screen in any layout you like even after you have built your application. And you can 
create scripts to automatically perform menu operations, update databases, run predefined 
queries & sorts, generate reports and a whole lot more. Which is what lead NeXTWORLD 
Magazine to say that Parabase is "The only NeXTSTEP 
software that builds SQL database applications without 
programming!' Plus you can store objects like images, 
formatted text - even entire documents and files - directly 
in the database. It's a single, easy to use application. Not 
a collection of tools, modules and kits. So it all works 
seamlessly. There's no need to struggle with object 
oriented programming kits & C when you can get up to 




speed fast with Parabase. And since it's client-server, you can always access the data with 
any number of other applications - even your own C programs. It's perfect for workgroups, 
departments, individuals and businesses looking for an edge. 

Gupta SQLBase Server. The highest rated SQL database server for 
PC networks, SQLBase Server is a high performance, cost effective SQL database 
server. It's easy to install, configure and administer. And it has advanced features like 
declarative referential integrity, support for multimedia datatypes and multiple transaction 
isolation levels. Its high performance, multi threaded SQL kernel handles scheduling, locking 
and caching with shared buffers to optimize memory usage and minimize operating system 
overhead. Data versioning, clustered hashed indexes and efficient transaction logging 
maximize read/write throughput. Standard automatic crash recovery, password protection, 
on-line backup, and remote monitoring tools ensure the security and reliability of your 
database. Whether you are planning to implement a reliable, high performance networking 
solution, or are a single database user seeking the ultimate flexibility, SQLBase Server is the 
perfect choice. And an adapter is available for integration with DfaKit. 

Special Limited Time Offer. For a limited time, you can get PARABASE and 

SQLBase together, a complete development system, for the special introductory price of 
only $995. Or a 5 user Workgroup Pack for only $2,995. To order, call (206) 828-81 72. 



Parable m rZ^T^TT^ ^^Tf 561 828 " 8172 fa * <206) 828 " 2149 e " ma,t ^©Pa^e-com I 550 Kirkland Way, Suite 100 / KirMand, WA 98033 

Parabase, SQLBase. Sybas,, Oracle, Interfuse and NeXTSTEP are trademarks of their respective companies. Parabase runs on NeXTSTEP Intel and 040. SQLBase runs on NeXTSTEP Intel. 

Circle 32 on reader service card 




SIMSON00002084 



COMMOHITY 



Work Processing 

Groupware developer 

Empowering the group without sacrificing the individual is a lofty idea that some might 
consider outside the realm of business productivity, but atSarrus Software, group- 
ware is more than an industry buzzword. "People have asked us to do a spread- 
sheet or drawing package," says Liz Statmore, vice-president of marketing. "But 
what makes our products unique is that they focus on work processes," 

Since most people's daily work involves a seemingly endless stream of names, 
dates, phone numbers, addresses, and to-do terns, Sarrus decided to offer tools for 
managing that information as it flows through an or^nizatkm. But rather than giving 
users a monolithic application that is expensive to implement and hard to use, Sarrus 
instead builds its groupware out of discrete building blocks that can be used both 
together and with other shrinkwrapped or custom apps. "We didnt want to have the 
kind of rigid rules that you have with something like Lotus Notes," Statmore says. 




The group at Sarrus {from top to bottom): Liz Statmore, Allan Atlas, Howard Burrows, 
Tammy Sorg, and Andy Turk. 

Following a stint as a software developer tor Visix Software, Andy Turk founded 
Sarrus in 1991, bringing on Howard Burrows (a veteran programmer who had spent 
time at HP and Software Publishing) and Statmore {fresh from a stint at NeXT). 
Samis's product line currently includes Pencil Me In, a group scheduling applica- 
tion, and SBook, a personal contact-management application. Bom products have 
enough power and intelligence to be used by an entire organization. 

Instead of subscribing to a group calendar that is maintained by a system 
administrator or other centralized authority, Pencil Me In lets individuals share 
their calendars in such a way that every calendar can become a group calendar. 

"We spent a tremendous amount of time testing the product with our initial 
corporate customers," says Turk, "The result is a very easy-to-use product that 
people can pick up without reading a manual. Because rfs so easy to use, it can 
spread quickly throughout an entire organization." 

Sarrus acquired the SBook contact manager from Simson Garfmkel and Asso- 
ciates in 1992. From within SBook, you can perform a mail merge with WordPer- 
fect or use the Services menu to dial the phone, print an envelope, or send a fax 
from within any application. Pencil Me In can export its data in a format that is 
directly compatible with WordPerfect, Athena Design's Mesa, « Page 10 

Photograph by Eric Mili.ette 




corporate 
communications. 







corporate 
communications. 



« i 



Gift ■ -.I- -II, M,..,;l 

- ;■ -■■>,:< .- 
T*; ■*■>•» fc'lfrlwtrat,— 



-/>m ■■ ■■ irr'FtertJj 



-jff :ii-.pii. jb:.- U>»i 

af taut 1 "jV-to- ,--, 



-■■ ■ ■ ,. ,i 



. i . . . . 



'■"Wri/pl.: WJIJ on 



lij 



fe«Ujyg [ \&'*.rS ■: ' -Ulfrfft-W •■* 




Okay, so it's only March, 
and you've already broken six 
of your seven New Year 's 
resolutions. But the last one— 
you promised yourself 
that this year you're 
going to get 
noticed— is still 
salvageable. The 
problem is, you can't 
find the right tools on 
NEXTSTEP. Word processors, 
like WriteUp, are great for 
routine office correspondence. 
But for real impact, well, that's 
where word processors run out 
of gas. 

When you need to pack an 
extra punch, try PasteUp. 
With PasteUp, people will 
notice what you create. And 
you don't need a degree in 
graphic design to use it. If you 
can operate a word processor, 
you can learn PasteUp in less 



than a day. Soon you'll be 
producing fresh and distinc- 
tive communications. You'll 
find dozens of ways to pep up 
your most important 
proposals, inject some 
razzle-dazzle into 

your monthly 
reports, add pizzazz 
to your press releases 
and product literature. 

The result? You can march 
right into your client's 
boardroom for that big 
contract, corner your boss for 
that raise, sell the press on a 
feature story about your latest 
success. You deserve it. 
You've earned it. And no one 
has to know how easy it was. 

Make an impact with 
PasteUp. Order your copy of 
PasteUp 2.2 today. Call 
215-653-0911 or send Email to 

PasteUp@af5.c0m. 



JBL 



909 Sumneytown Pike • Suite 207 ■ Springhouse, PA 19477 
Phone: 215 653 0911 • FAX: 215 653 0711 • Email: Info@afs.com 

> Co?; right 19M, Anderson Financial Systems, toe. Ail Rights Reserved. WriteUp, the WriteUp logo, PasteUp. (be PasteUp lego, and fee 
APS logo are all trademarks of Anderson Financial Systems, NEXTSTEP is a registered trademark of NeXT Computer, he. 



Circle 33 on reader service card 



SIMSON00002085 



COMMUNITY 






» Work Processing 

or Stone Design's DataPhile. Sams has also developed drag-and-drop links between 

its two programs. 

"One thing you see happen a lot in the Mac and Windows world is the creation 
of really big, complex applications that attempt to do everything," says Burrows. 
"We prefer to keep things modular." 

Sarrus in January published an API for Pencil Me In that allows the app to be 
integrated with custom applications on the desktop. "This will give our customers 
the ability to use either the user interface or the scheduling engine in their cus- 
tom apps," Burrows says. 

i think that over the next 12 to 18 months you are going to see a lot of develop- 
ers cooperating on [API development], because we're all realizing that this is one of 
NEXTSTEP'S competitive advantages/' says Statmore. "It gives us an advantage 
over developers that are doing stuff that might be usable under SoftPC. The level 
of integration that you can get using native appficatfcnis star and away superwr." 

Sarrus has extended its novel programming strategy to its own business model. 
Instead of relying on venture capital, Turk went right to his potential customers 
for the company's funding. Swiss Bank Corporation's interest in an early prototype 
of Pencil Me In allowed him to finish the product and establish the software firm; 



Sarrus has stuck to a customer-driven model ever since. All of the company's prod- 
ucts include a Suggestion panel, and these suggestions often drive product revi- 
sions. Pencil Me In's unusual six-week view is one such example, added at the 
request of an early customer. 

"The distinction between custom and shrinkwrapped isnt nearly as impor- 
tant as the distinction between a one-off application and a mass-market one," Turk 
explains. "If we do enter into an agreement with a large customer, we'll let them 
give input, but it's very clear that we are still in charge." 

Custom apps are important in bringing NEXTSTEP into the enterprise, says 
Turk, but once it arrives, customers quickly look to the shrinkwrapped market for 
productivity solutions. With NEXTSTEP, though, customers get an environment in 
which custom, bundled, and shrinkwrapped apps combine to provide an integrated 
desktop. 

Sarrus has succeeded where other shrinkwrapped developers in the NEXTSTEP 
market have failed. The key to survival, says Turk, is to provide products that are 
useful on everyone's desktop. By connecting software modules and people in an 
organization, Sarrus is fulfilling NEXTSTEP'S promise of brirtgisig people together. $ 



by Lee Sherman 



fjfi 



\° d 



1 fax modem. 

2 functions. 



If the Swiss had a knife like this, 
they wouldn't need an army. 



\itmm 



No hassles! 








NX Fax 



-NeXIWorld, Best of Breed '93 



NeXTWorld, Winter J 92 



A single fax modem should handle data Teiebit, Supra, and others. And it's sold by 
and faxes. But switching between them is a people who live and breathe NeXT • for clear 



high-attention hassle. 

Unless you're using NXFax 



insight, answers, service, and support. 
It's the best way to get the most fax 



NXFax is intelligent fax software that from NEXTSTEP. And at any price, the most 
flawlessly handles both fax and data colls. from your money. NXFax software $l 35, 
It supports high-speed modems from ZyXEL, modem packages with NXFax start of $500. 

802-496-8500 



fa \ 



■ 

Circle 79 on reader service card 

10 Wam MARCH 1994 





>W«BDS'93 




..the finest drawing package and ..composition tool 
Publish Magazine, November 1 993 



Ateys Corporation. 265 W Swikt Psfcar ferraricr,, R 75080.(2141680-2060. All produa rare are a* property of rtsr respwre ows 




Bridge Sfree^tarkeffJote. Woi 



73-1210 • Fax: 802-496-5112 • nxfQx@bandw.com 



Circle 22 on reader service card 



Until the release of Virtuoso' for NEXTSTEP';' graphic designers, artists, and busi- 
ness professionals needed an army of software to get the job done. With its 
PostScript* language drawing and production capabilities, Virtuoso has revolutionized 
graphic design and page layout for NEXTSTEP. Today, the revolution continues with 
the announcement of Virtuoso 2 for NEXTSTEP. Offering an advanced feature set 
including multiple pages, spell checking, sophisticated path operations, and more, 
Virtuoso 2 is sure to become your publishing program of choice. 

Call 1-800-477-2131 Ext. 253 to place your order today! 

or E-mail us at: virtuoso infoaaltsys.com 




SIMSON00002086 



[ EPIuribus 

I Unum 

Ox t h h N f t 

New Deal politics. Much Net traffic 
re: the HP-Taligent deal. The usual 
suspects pounced: Here's proof that 
HP isn't really serious about NEXT- 
STEP (or is really cheesed about the 
Sun-NeXT deal). Others countered 
that Taligent isn't anywhere near 
shipping a product, even the 00 
"development tools" it now plans to 
publish first in lieu of a full OS. Yet 
others: HP has a history of building 
a platform, then licensing as many 
operating systems as possible to run 
on it. The doom-and-gloomers would 
probably be mollified if HP ponied up 
with some serious cash. One positive 
spin: Bill Gates ought to be worried 
(even if Steve did attend his wedding). 

■k 

Platforms, platforms everywhere. 

While Sun backs up its commitment 
by showing NEXTSTEP in its booth 
at ObjectWorld (and running want 
ads for NS programmers), rumors 
abounded about new ports. Power- 
House is said to be polishing up the 
NRW (on the NeXT campus?), 
while DEC Alpha AXP certification 
seems near, according to one poster. 
But everybody wants to know if NS 
will run on HP's new Gecko (real 
name Model 712): starting price 
about $4000. 

Good press and bad. The only thing 
worse than being talked about, per 
Oscar Wilde, is not being talked 
about. Between the Stross book por- 
traying him as a petulant (but very 
lucky) child, and Forbes naming him 
one of the world's toughest bosses, 
Steve might not agree. This month, 
Byte and IEEE Spectrum praise NS, 
while The Red Herring flames Steve 
for not writing an article for it. The 
nerve of some people! 

Because you asked. "Sic transit gloria 
mundi" (January 1994) is neither a 
reference to Ms. Steinem's health nor 
the motto of the New York City sub- 
way system (that would be "Sick tran- 
sit . . ."). Literally, it's "Thus passes 
the glory of the world." There will be 
a quiz... $ 

by S T E V E F R I C K E 







□ Intel CPU □ 32 MB RAM □ 1.05 Gig SCSI HD 

□ ATI ULTRA VLB, 2MB VRAM □ DPT 2022 SCSI II CNTRLR 

□ 17" MAG MX17F SVGA .26 DIGITAL MONITOR W MPR II 
□ EISA/VLB MOTHERBRD □ TOWER CASE □ 2ND FAN 

□ 101 KEYBOARD □ TEAC 1.44MB FLOPPY 

486DX2/66 $ 4995 Pentium $ 5795 
OTHER OPTIONS 



VIDEO CARDS 

ATI Ultra Pro VLB or EISA w/ 2MB VRAM 
miroCRYSTALw/ 4MB VRAM 
Number 9 GXE Level II, w/ 2MB VRAM 
Ml other approved video cards 

MOTHERBOARDS & CPU 

Intel PENTIUM CPU 

VI Bus or PCI Motherboards 

CONTROLLERS 

.All approved SCSI and IDE controllers are 
offered including Adaptec, Buslogic. DPT 
and Promise Technologies. 

MULTI MEDIA OPTIONS 

Toshiba Internal CD ROM, 200ms 
Toshiba External CD ROM, 200ms 
Texel SCSI II External CD ROM 
Pro Audio 1 6 Sound card 
Pro Audio Studio Sound card 



E4RD DRIVES 

Micropolis 1.7 Gig Fast SCSI II HDIOms 
Micropolis 1.05 Gig Fast SCSI II HD 10ms 
Conner 540 MB Fast SCSI II HD 10ms 
Quantum 520 MB SCSI II HD 10ms 
Western Digital 420 MB SCSI II HD 12ms 

MONITORS 

15" CTX 1024x768 NI Low Radiation 
17" NanaoT550i 1280x1024 NI .28 
17" Sceptre 1280x1024 M. 26 Trinitron 
Other monitors on request 

ACCESSORIES 

I/O card \v/l6C550Uart Chip 
14.4 Baud External Modems 
NextStep Software (Installed) 

NETWORK CARD OPTIONS 

Intel EtherExpress 16 
SMC Ethernet Elite 



QUALITY 

Above all, a system from 
G.E.C. is quality. Very competitive 
pricing is just a little bonus. Our 
customers tell us mat the reason 
the> r buy from us is they know the 
niachtae will work, and that ifsome- 
thing happens to go wrong, a pro- 
fessional technician is going to 
make it right in a hurry. 

G.E.C. has set its stan- 
dard by insisting on quality com- 
ponents. These include NM8 key- 
boards (used by Compaq) TEAC 
floppy disk drives (the industry 
standard) and faster 60ns RAM, 
Our customers take note of the 
little things like me Diamond se- 
ries cases, quiet power supplies, 
the use of fan-cooled heat sinks on 
the CPU. 

EXPERIENCE 

Try dealing with a cotn- 
panywhere every salesman knows 
NEXTSTEP standards and every 
technician has built, loaded and 
tested NextStep compatibles. Our 
techicians have received training 
in NextStep, work closely with 
NEXT and with our customers on 
compatibilty, and are involved in 
NEXT Users groups. 

PRICE 

G.E.C. has found only one 
way to farther lower your prices. 
Some of our competitors have clone 
this, but our customers have asked 
us to refrain. Do we know where to 
buy cheaper components? Yes. We 
don't think you want a $17 key- 
board or a $35 non-Ill approved 
case. We believe in sticking with 
components thathave proven them- 
selves. We resist exchanging qual- 
ity for price. We will offer you the 
bestprices possible, whilethe qual- 
ity remains a constant. 



I 







Vf JJ \j Circle 96 on reader service card 

1901 E. University #300 Mesa, A2 85203 

Fax; (602) 834-1522 BBS (602) 834-6662 _- 

(800) 486-1500 K* 

Phone: (602) 834-1111 



SIMSON00002087 



Your Corporate Spreadsheet Solution 



MESA 



Scenario: 



Wonder Widget Wholesalers, Inc. has its corporate headquarters and national sales organization in 
Chicago and 4 factory/distribution centers located in Atlanta, Boston, Phoenix and Seattle. 



Problem: 



WWW must balance production against inventor)' and demand. Managers must react 

quickly to quality fluctuations. Salespeople must cost products to stay competitive. 

Executives need a real-world view of new product introductions in an easy to understand format. 



Solution: 



Seattle: A manager uses Mesa to determine 

material and man-hour requirements needed to 

fulfill orders over the next month taking into 

account current inventory levels. 




SEATTLE 



Phoenix: The production department catches and 

fixes a quality problem -within minutes based on real 

time production line information fed into Mesa. 



Wonder Widget Wholesalers uses Mesa to track production, to update factor)' output in 

real rime, to model costs and generate sales quotes, and to query the corporate database to 

easily generate reports and graphs based on current and historical information. 



Chicago: The MIS department has developed a custom 
Executive Information application that uses Mesa to query the 

corporate database, build graphs, and print reports. Mesa's 
Object Library Interface (MOLI) made developing this appli- 
cation easy through Paiettized spreadsheet and graph Objects. 



PHOENLX 



ATLANTA 



Boston: A corporate analyst uses Mesa to predict 
future product demand based on historical data 
queried from the corporate database. 




Atlanta: A salesperson uses Mesa to build a quote 

for a customer based on current costs of production, 

labor costs, and other variables so that WWW 

makes a profit yet still has a competitive price. 



Mesa leverages the strengths of each of WW's workers by giving them an easy, powerful tool to 

corporate data, to manipulate and report that data, to exchange worksheets, and to integrate into 
WWW's custom application and executive information system framework. For WWW, Mes; 
than a spreadsheet, Mesa is an integral part of the corporate information structure. 



access 



a is more 



SQL Queries ■ MOLI-Mesa Object Library 

Interface * Accepts Real Time Data Feeds 

File Comparability with Excel 3.0™, 1-2-3™ 

SYLK™, and 20/20™ 



Flotttog Lictnte Hmtgtl Slid Site Licenses available 
Educational discounts available 








ATHENA DESIGN 

Spreadsheet excellence 
1? St. Mary's Court, Boston, MA 02146 USA 

1.800. 949. MESA 

1.617.734.6372 ■ i'ax.l. 617.734.1130 • info@athena.com 




Mesa, the best-selling NEXTSTEP™ spreadsheet, runs on NEXTSTEP for Motorola™ and 



processors, 



NBtStB is a reassured tradraart of *XT. ,nc Motorola is a nam of Mask Ccip Intel is i me 



Circle 64 on reader service card 






SIMSON00002088 



news! 



Metrosoft in January teamed 
up with HSD to form a strate- 
gic partnership. Metrosoft will 
publish several HSD products, 
including OCR Servant, HSD 
Spell, and Power Scan, while 
HSD will offer consulting ser- 
vices to the San Diego-based 
developer of MetroTools. "Both 
companies have been successful 
on their own and are joining 
forces to strengthen their posi- 
tions as leading providers of 
NEXTSTEP solutions," a spokes- 
woman said. Metrosoft: 619/ 
488-9411; info@metrosoft.com. 

HSD is offering a special pro- 
motional price of $19.95 for 
HSD Spell, a replacement for 
the NEXTSTEP spell checker 
that supports 1 1 languages. Be- 
cause HSD's existing inventory 
of the product is available sole- 
ly on ED disks, only users of 
Motorola hardware can take 
advantage of the offer. Users can 
I also choose to upgrade to the 
| Intel version for $49. HSD Spell 
i has a $149 suggested retail price, 
which includes two language 
i dictionaries. Additional lan- 
'■ guages, including Danish, Dutch. 
. English, Finnish, French, Ger- 
: man, Italian, Norwegian, Por- 
i tuguese, Spanish, and Swedish, 
| can be purchased for S99 each. 
' HSD: 408/774-1400; sales@hsd. 
com, 

Dolphin Technologies has an- 
nounced a new release of its 
Dolphin Kit Class library, with 
enhancements and new objects. 
Included in the kit are classes 
for string manipulation, com- 
plex-string parsing and regular- 
expression handling, encapsu- 
lation of files, and extended- 
error and crash handling. Sin- 
gle-user licenses are available 
for $449; site licenses are also 
available. Dolphin: 310/441- 
9041; info@dolphin.com. 

Objective Technologies in Jan- 
uary added to its ObjectWare 
offerings with OTStringKit, a 
set of Objective-C classes, pro- 
tocols, and categories, along 

with C |C0NT1NUED ON PAGE 16] 



NS takes financial RISC 



by Lee 

Shfrman 

New York - The 
first public demon- 
stration of NEXT- 
STEP running on 
Hewlett-Packard's 
PA-RISC took 
place at HP's intro- 
duction of its new 
Model 712 ma- 
chines in mid-Jan- 
uary. 

Financial-ser- 
vices customers 
and developers 
packed a Manhattan Marriott ball- 
room, where they saw well-known 
NEXTSTEP applications, including 
Athena Design's Mesa, Anderson 
Financial's WriteUp and afstrade, 
and Lighthouse Design's Diagram! 
and Concurrence, running on an 
alpha version of NEXTSTEP for 
PA-RISC. An HP Vectra PC run- 
ning NEXTSTEP for Intel was 
networked to a Mode! 735 work- 
station that was deployed as a 




Jobs: MT "racehorse" 
has legs for Ion? haul 



HP's Model 712 will bring new price/performance to NS. 

server running PDO. 

"NEXTSTEP on PA-RISC feels 
like it does on any other machine 
I've run it on, only faster," said 
Michael Matlack, president of AFS. 

According to Matlack, a pre- 
beta version of the company's 
forthcoming WriteUp word pro- 
cessor was recompiled in under 
an hour for PA-RISC, with no 
changes to the source code. "It 
just worked," [see pa-Risc, page 14| 



b y D a n L a v i n a n d 

D a n Rub y 

Washington, D.C. - The object 
horse race is just around the first 
bend, but NeXT has the legs to 
stay furlongs in front and finish 
strong, CEO Steve Jobs said in an 
address to NeXT's East Coast 
Developer Conference, which was 
held here in January. 

"We are ahead today, but the 
race is far from over. By the end 
of 1996, we project an installed 
base of one million seats, Microsoft 
Cairo will be very close behind, 
and Taligent will be very far be- 
hind." Jobs said. 

The presentation, which includ- 
ed a financial review and tech- 
nology demonstrations, opened the 
three-day conference. Of the more 
than 500 attendees, many from 
agencies of the federal government, 
three-quarters were new or pro- 



spective customers who had not 
attended previous NeXT events, 
according to Karen Steele, director 
of marketing communications. 

Sun CEO Scott McNealy con- 
tributed a canned NEXTIME 
message of commitment to NEXT- 
STEP, in which he contrasted Sun's 
singular support for OpenStep 
with Hewlett-Packard's strategy 
of providing numerous object 
offerings. "We have no insurance 
policy," McNealy said. "We have 
made a firm one-company, one- 
architecture decision, not like 
Taligent getting a trophy spouse 
by signing up HP." 

In the presentation, Jobs reviewed 
NeXT's 1993 accomplishments, 
including revenues of more than 
$11 million in the second half and 
the landmark OpenStep deal with 
Sun. He wowed the audience with 
demonstrations of NEXTIME, 

PDO for [SF.F. CONFERENCE, PAGE 151 



NeXT, Sun unveil strategy 



NS for newcomers 



b y C \ r a A . Cunningham 

Boston - NeXT and SunSoft used 
the January ObjectWorld show 
to trumpet their recent technolo- 
gy agreement as the object strat- 
egy for the 1990s and beyond. 

Company officials did not of- 
fer a demonstration of OpenStep 



for Solaris but said that details 
about the product will be released 
in April at a planned Sun devel- 
oper conference. 

"We want to win in objects," 
said Jim Green, SunSoft's director 
of object products. In order to 
achieve this goal, the company 
part- [see ObjectWorld, page 1 6 1 



b y Dan L a v i n 

Redwood City- NeXT is seeking 
to encourage initial purchases of 
NEXTSTEP through three sepa- 
rate sales and support programs 
that were announced in January. 
In addition to an installation- and 
configuration-support program, 
the company is offering two pro- 



HP covering its object bases 



by Dan Ruby 

Cupertino, CA - Hewlett-Packard's 
equity investment in Taligent, 
announced in January, is part of 
its strategy to cover al! bets in 
the race for the object market, ac- 
cording to analysts. 

Although HP will bring Taligent 
technology into its HP-UX oper- 
ating system, the company will 



continue to support 
NEXTSTEP as a na- 
tive object solution, 
said Tilman Schad, gen- 
eral manager of HP's 
software systems unit. 
"We see two kinds of 
customers - those who 
want to jump imme- 
diately into a complete 

object |SEE HP, PAGE 16| 









| 


CUE 




NeXT 


Other 










C++ 


Taligent 


Small- 
talk 








DOMF/DCE 






HP-UX 








PA-RISC 



NEXTSTEP will be offered by HP as a native object solution. 



motions that discount the cost of 
NEXTSTEP. 

All three programs are aimed 
at first-time buyers, attempting 
to both encourage trial usage of 
NEXTSTEP within corporations 
and generate immediate income. 

At least one developer criticized 
this method, saying, "NeXT should 
not want the kind of customer 
who is price-sensitive in the first 
place, though the configuration 
support is long overdue." 

NeXT will now provide thirty 
days of installation and configu- 
ration support to all users who are 
installing NEXTSTEP on a NeXT- 
certified system. The support is 
available through toll-free numbers 
in the United States and extends 
for thirty days from the first phone 
call. This program will continue 
indefinitely. 

The program applies only to 
installation and configuration, and 
those processes are considered 
complete [see Pricing, page 151 



SIMSON00002089 



MeXTWBRLD extra 



CCS! forms new group, 
targets NS workstations 




§> bite DataPhile users 



by Dan L a v i n 

Costa Mesa, CA - Canon Com- 
puter Systems (CCSI) in January 
announced the formation of the 
Advanced Technology Operation 
(ATG), a new business unit headed 
by A! Thomason and Bret Gutzka, 
who recently left Epson's NEXT- 
STEP group to join Canon (see 
"Canon nabs Epson execs," NeXT- 
WORLD Extra, January 1994), 

"CCSI sees opportunity where 
the workstation world collides 
with the PC world. We're espe- 
dally looking forward to contin- 
uing our close relationships with- 
in the NeXT community," said 
Gutzka, director of sales tor ATG. 

Thomason will be the group's 
executive director, reporting direct- 
ly to CCSI President and'GEO 
Yasuhiro Tsubota, who worked 
for six months with Steve Jobs at 
NeXT before founding CCSI. 

ATO, headquartered in Hilis- 
boro, Oregon, has a charter to 
explore opportunities for CCSI 
within the high-end computing 
market. Sources speculate that it 
. will produce computer systems 
specifically optimized for running 
NEXTSTEP. These systems would 
be sold to large corporate accounts, 
such as Fortune 1 000 and govern- 
ment sites. 

CCSI is a division of Canon that 
did over $300 million of business 
in 1993, its first full sales year. So 
far, CCSI has aimed at the "small 
office, home office" market; this 
venture represents a potential 
broadening of its product strategy, 
the company said. 

According to CCSI, ATO re- 



mains unrelated to Powerhouse, 
a Canon division staffed by for- 
mer NeXT hardware employees 
(see "Canon settlement complete," 
NeXTWORLD Extra, Decem- 
ber 1993). $ 



by Lee Sherman 

Albuquerque, NM - Users of Stone 
Design's DataPhile were among 
the first to be bitten by bugs in the 
NEXTSTEP 3.2 Indexing Kit. 

An undocumented change to the 
kit caused the find command to 
stop working and could, in some 



Pangea sends NeXT mail 



by Lee S h e r m a n 

Anrtandale, VA - Pangea Corpus 
ration has announced MindShare 
Mail, the first commercially avail- 
able alternative to NeXTmail. 

"After seeing MindShare in action, 
our customers realized we had 
what it takes to develop the next- 
generation e-mail system they so 
badly needed," said Peter Park, 
Pangea's president. "Groupware 
features like shared mailboxes and 
central storage have become a crit- 
ical part of the e-mail picture," 

MindShare Mail will offer fea- 
tures, such as prioritization, filter- 
ing, encryption, fast searching, and 
mailbox sharing, that go beyond 
NeXTmail's more limited features. 

Users of MindShare Mail will be 



able to exchange messages con- 
taining Rich Text, graphics, and 
sounds with users of NeXTmail 
on a network or over the Internet. 
An ASCII option will enable them 
to .send messages to other systems. 

MindShare Mail will be avail- 
able as a stand-alone system or as 
an add-on to MindShare, the com- 
pany's recently released groupware. 
When integrated with MindShare, 
users can send messages directly 
to either an. individual or a Mind- 
Share discussion group. 

MindShare Mail and MindShare 
are based on die Pangea Groupware 
Engine, an object kit containing 
objects for data formats, database 
replication, security, and admin- 
istration. The APIs for the engine 
will be available in 1994,0 




yet to s 



%j 




L e f. Sherman 



Springhouse, PA - Anderson Fi- 
nancial Systems missed its self- 
imposed deadline of December 31 
for shipping its WriteUp word 



Dream comes true for 
Quix Computerware 




SHIP 
SHAPE 



b y E i. J o T 

B E R G S N 

Lucerne, Switz- 
erland - Quix 
Computerware 
ended months of 
negotiation with 
Apple in January 
and began shipping its Daydream 
hardware add-on, which enables 
NEXTSTEP for Motorola users to 
ran Macintosh System 7 and diird- 
party applications. 

The box, which plugs into the 
NeXTstation DSP port, contains 
Macintosh LC ROMs. 



When the Daydream ROM box 
is connected and the NeXTstation 
is rebooted, the Macintosh oper- 
ating system runs the computer, 
allowing users access to Mac appli- 
cations, files, and peripherals. 

The product's release was delay- 
ed for several months as Apple and 
Quix negotiated the release (see 
"Black box or Mac box?" NeXT- 
WORLD Extra, October 1993). 

The initial $795 price was set 
to expire at the end of February; 
other pricing was not determined 
at press time. 

Quix: 201/928-0420, 41/41/34. 
88.43; quix@applelink.apple.com. % 



processor. At press time, the prod- 
uct had still not shipped, but the 
company said it is on track for a 
March release. 

As promised, customers who 
preordered the software before the 
deadline will receive a rebate of 
|1 per day from December 31 to 
the day the app ships. AFS said it 
will also offer an as-yet-undisclosed 
rebate to academic customers who 
weren't eligible for the special deal. 
WriteUp sells for $199 with aca- 
demic pricing of $99. 

With WordPerfect out of the 
running, WriteUp has come under 
increased scrutiny as customers 
scramble to fill the void for a NEXT- 
STEP word processor. 

Instead of succumbing to fea- 
ture-itis, AFS CEO Greg Ander- 
son said, the company is faking 
the time required to release a prod- 
uct that is as clean as possible. 

"We didn't say it was going to 
be God's word processor in the 
first iteration," he said. '"We're 
taking the features that we've an- 
nounced, and we're in the process 
of making them stable." 

Anderson can be reached at 
215/653-0911. $ 



cases, lead to corrupted files. At 
press time, the bug fix was under- 
going quality-assurance testing at 
NeXT. 

According to Elena Settanni, 
technical support manager at Stone 
Design, the problem only affects 
text fields or views that are over 
8KB in size, such as those that in- 
clude Rich Text or graphics. 

"We had some users who elect- 
ed to go ahead with 3,2 because 
they figured that most of their 
users didn't have fancy views," she 
said. "Everyone else patched back 
to the 3.1 libraries.'' 



A patch was shipped to regis- 
tered users in mid -December and 
immediately posted to the Net on 
cs.unm.edu. 

DataPhile 2.1, which incorpo- 
rates the fix, will ship as soon as 
it is ready, according to Stone. The 
new version also includes a more 
powerful find language, smart 
merge, and speed enhancements. 

Other products that use the 
Indexing Kit, including Pangea's 
MindShare, are also affected by 
the bugs. After a short delay, Pan- 
gea in January '.shipped a revised 
version of its software. % 



Samis pencils in 
developers with API 



by Lee Sherman 

Washington, D.C. - 
Following the trend 
toward open applica- 
tions, Sarrus Software 
announced the avail- 
ability of a Pencil Me 
In API at the East 
Coast Developer Con- 
ference in January. 

With the Penal Me 
In Toolkit, corporate 
developers can use the 
API to integrate group scheduling 
and calendar functions into their 
custom applications. The libraries 
included with the tool kit offer total 
control over Pencil Me In, includ- 
ing the capability to set calendar- 
access levels for Pencil Me In users 
on a network and create calendars, 
appointments, and action items. 

"Pencil Me In is now the only 
scheduling application available 
on any platform to allow that level 
of integration," said Liz Statmore, 
vice-president of marketing, 




Custom apps integrate scheduling data with Pencil Me In API. 



The William Morris Agency in 
Beverly Hills, California, is using 
the Pencil Me In API with DBKit 
and a Sybase database to develop 
a custom talent-management sys- 
tem that will provide a common 
calendar interface for both client 
bookings and group scheduling 
within the organization. 

"Our agents were already using 
Pencil Me In for their calendars," 
said Alex Henry, director of MIS 
at William Morris. "Why not use 
something that is familiar?" $ 



(FROM 8ACI 13] 



PA-RISC 

he said. 

Sources in attendance at the 
event said that bundled applica- 
tions, including InterfaceBuilder, 
appeared stable even though they 
were running under a prerelease 
operating system. 

Although the event was target- 
ed at introducing HP's new line 
of workstations, NeXT partisans 
in the audience were impressed 
with HP's commitment to NEXT- 
STEP, One source said the Object* 
Enterprise initiative was mentioned 
within the first five minutes of the 
program. 

Hadar Pedhazur, managing 
director of global equity deriva- 



tives for Union Bank of Switzer- 
land, said that the port, along 
with the recent alliance with Sun, 
should provide NeXT with new- 
found inroads into the financial- 
services market, which already 
has a significant investment in both 
Sun and HP hardware. 

''People in the financial-services 
community have a workstation 
mentality," he said. "Now I can 
pick my favorite workstation ven- 
dor but still run my mission-criti- 
cal software." 

NEXTSTEP for PA-RISC is ex- 
pected to be available for the HP 
Apollo 9000 Models 712, 715, 
725, 735, and 755 workstations 
in mid 1994.$ 




SIMSON00002090 




i 



B U 



e X T V R L I E X I I ft 



i N 



for multiple 
platforms 

h\ Paul Cvrtho y s 



Boston - Athena Design in Janu- 
ary took an early lead among 
third-party developers in support- 
ing NeXT's cross-platform alli- 
ances by announcing that it will 
release versions of its Mesa spread- 
sheet for OpenStep and NEXTSTEP 
for PA-RISC. 

The ports of the popular spread- 
sheet will be available concurrent- 
ly with the release of the two new 
operating-system versions, accord- 
ing to the company. 

Signs of early progress were 
visible at Hewlett-Packard's un- 
veiling of its new Model 712 hard- 
ware line, when Mesa was demon- 
strated running on an alpha ver- 
sion of NEXTSTEP for PA-RISC 
(see "NS takes financial RISC' 1 ). 

Athena also announced that it 
will release ports of Mesa for any 
new platforms on which NEXT- 
STEP becomes available. 

Both new versions of Mesa will 
be available at the usual price of 
$499; educational discounts and 
site licenses will also continue to 
be available. 

Athena Design can be reached 
at 17 St. Mary's Ct, Boston, MA 
02146. 617/734-6372, 617/734- 
1 130 fax; info@athena.com. % 



Phibro system spurs NS sales 




PriCillg |FROMMC,El31 

when users can launch the Work- 
space Manager and start an appli- 
cation from their NextApps direc- 
tory. 

Both price promotions began 
January 11 and expire March 15. 
"We are providing customers an 
opportunity to experience [NEXT- 
STEP] without having to invest a 
lot of money," said Rick Jackson, 
director of product marketing for 
NeXT. 

With the Developer Bundle, 
NeXT offers both NEXTSTEP De- 
veloper and NEXTSTEP User for 
$995, sharply discounted from a 
normal combined retail price of 
$2790 and only slightly higher than 
the standard $795 retail price for 
the user version. Both the user and 
developer products are required 
to run a development system. This 
promotion is limited to one copy 
per department or project. 

The Project Starter Pack includes 
five copies of the user system, three 
NEXTSTEP developer packages, 
and one registration to NeXT 
Developer Camp. It costs $7995 
for a package that would normal- 
ly run $11,760.$ 



by Paul C u r t h o y s 

Greenwich, CT - In the burgeon- 
ing commodities-trading market, 
a ground-breaking custom app 
developed by Phibro Energy is 
fueling intense interest in NEXT- 
STEP. 

A full front-office to back-office 
transaction system, the Phibro 
Trading System revolutionizes the 
trading process by providing one 
tool for everything from trading, 



analysis, and risk management to 
scheduling and tracking the move- 
ment of oil tankers. The app is 
owned by Phibro but marketed 
and resold by Systemhouse. 

"Phibro has created a lot of 
interest in NEXTSTEP because of 
the excitement over this software," 
said Jeff Kvam, vice-president of 
capital markets and trading at 
Systemhouse, where he oversees 
sales and marketing of the trad- 
ing system. "These new custom- 



sets new name, home 




by Pali. Cubthoks 

Palo Alto, CA - Providing cus- 
tomer service across an ocean and 
several time zones can be quite a 
challenge. That's why Intuitive 
Systems, the French developer of 
intuitiv'3d and Cub'X-Windows, 
in January relocated its offices to 
California. 

"The American market is the 
biggest part of the NEXTSTEP 
market," said Claire Normand, 
marketing manager at Intuitive 
Systems. "We've always wanted 
to be in the U.S. to reach the Amer- 
ican market." Normand added 
that sales have improved since her 
company's move. 

In its new location, Intuitive 
Systems will continue to refine in- 
mitiv'3d, its 3-D modeling app. 
Normand said the company had 
planned to have a new version 
ready for release by the end of Feb- 
ruary. 

The move also involves a name 



change for the company, which 
has been called Intuitive Technolo- 
gies and Cub'X Systemes in the 
past. 

Intuitive Systems can be reached 
at P.O. Box 60849, Palo Alto, CA 
94306. 415/852-0245, 415/852- 
1271 fax; info%intuitiv.uucp@ 
netcom.com. % 



ers would never consider NEXT- 
STEP on its own, but they're inter- 
ested in this turnkey system." 

The software helped cement 
deals at EOTT Energy Corpora- 
tion in Houston; PEMEX, the 
national oil and gas company, in 
Mexico City; and Lagoben in 
Caracas, Venezuela. Deployment 
is underway at all three locations. 

Kvam reported that sales to 
three to four more commodities- 
trading firms are in the works 
and appear promising. 

Systemhouse expects to gross 
$20 million this year from selling 
and supporting the package to 
commodities-trading firms across 
North America, according to 
Kvam. 

"That could grow to $30 mil- 
lion a. year every year in the fu- 
ture," Kvam added. "I'm confident 
that [the software] can become a 
dominant force in the market as 
a competitive advantage to solv- 
ing business problems in the finan- 
cial-services industry." $ 



L 



goes to bank 

by Paul Curt hoys 

Stockholm - As NEXTSTEP con- 
tinues to make a splash in the fi- 
nancial-services market, several 
promising new deals are underway 
at Swedish financial institutions. 

Three Swedish banks - Handels- 
banken. ABB Finance, and Swed- 
bank - are currently exploring 
pilot projects with NEXTSTEP 
custom apps that handle securities, 
maintain pensions, and calculate 
margin calls for options and 
futures. 

"These three installations will 
open up the bank and finance 
markets in the Nordic countries," 
said a spokesman for Initiera, the 
VAR overseeing the sales. 

Initiera plans to work jointly 
with HP and Sun to bring the 
benefits of NeXT's cross-plat- 
form alliances into this market as 
well, he added. $ 



NeXT reopens office in France 



Paris - NeXT reopened an office 
in France in February. The office, 
in the La Defense section of Paris, 
will be headed by Director of Sales 
Christian Kunze. 

"We made our targets for 1993 
and know we can sell our soft- 
ware. Our 1994 goals include a 
fair share for France, and you need 
a local office to sell effectively 
there," said Bernhard Woebker, 
NeXTs vice-president for Europe. 



Kunze was director of 
European operations for 
Gain, a unit of Sybase, 
before joining NeXT. 
Jean-Michel Lunati, for- 
mer technical director for 
Cub'X Systemes, will 
work for Kunze. 

NeXT Europe now has 
operations in Germany, 
France, and the United 
Kingdom, with 15 total 
employees. A 




Conference [from page i 3] 

PA-RISC, and NEXTSTEP for 
PA-RISC. 

NeXT also announced PDO 
2.0, which includes support for 
SunOS, Solaris, Data General UX, 
and Digital Equipment OS/1. This 
new version of PDO better sup- 
ports heterogeneous deployments 
by integrating a C++ compiler 
into the existing Objective-C 
compiler and adding support for 
the GNU make program. PDO 
2.0 will ship for the Sun systems 
in April, and Jobs predicted that 
it would be supported by five to 
ten operating systems by the end 
of 1994. 

The conference followed an 
upbeat two-day NeXT sales meet- 
ing, during which the company 
set new sales targets and quotas. 



According to sources, NeXT is 
looking for 85,000-100,000 
NEXTSTEP sales and $50 million 
in revenue in 1994. 

Much of the focus of the devel- 
oper conference was on NeXT 
partners. Among those hosting 
product-display suites were HP, 
Digital Equipment, NEC, Epson, 
Intel, and Systemhouse. Borland 
and NCR, which paid for suites, 
did not use them. The Association 
of NeXT Developers International 
hosted several third-party devel- 
opers in its suite. 

A second-day keynote by for- 
mer Pentagon CIO Paul Strass- 
man underscored the strong gov- 
ernment presence at the confer- 
ence, which drew the bulk of its 
attendance from the Washington, 
D.C.area.# 



Dev partner head named 



by Dan L a v i n 

Margaret Grover (formerly Chan! 
has been named to head develop- 
er partnerships for NeXT as the 
company continues to refine its 
third-party strategy. 

The position will hold the up- 
graded title of director of devel- 
oper relations and report direct- 
ly to Warren Weiss, vice-president 
of North American sales and mar- 
keting. 

"In addition to current efforts, 
Margaret will be aggressively 
recruiting business-oriented client- 
server technology developers [that 



write apps] like CASE tools and 
front-end planning and analysis 
systems," said Weiss. 

Julie Saffren, who formerly held 
the position, has made a lateral 
move and become manager of 
marketing programs under Karen 
Steele, director of marketing com- 
munications. 

In addition, Saffren will have 
responsibility for NeXTWORLD 
Expo. 

Grover was previously a direc- 
tor in product management and 
becomes the sixth person in three 
years to hold the developer-part- 
nerships position.* 



SIMSON00002091 



MeXTWOBLO [KIM 




macros and constants, that are 
designed to speed application 
development. According to the 
company, the software allows 
programmers to manipulate 
strings, paths, regular expres- 
sions, and data as objects, while 
reducing memory-allocation er- 
rors. OTI: 212/227-6767; info@ 
object.com. 

Xedoc has partnered with Helios 
USA, a major U.S. distributor 
of network operating systems, 
particularly for Macintosh net- 
works based on UNIX servers. 
Xedoc plans to leverage its Net- 
Info product expertise and create 
a product called EtherEvents, to 
be sold as part of Helios's Ether- 
Share product line. Helios has a 
customer base of 25,000 UNIX 
and AppleTalk systems, the largest 
in the world. Xedoc: 61/3/696- 
2490; info@xedoc.com.au. 

WI charted a new course in Feb- 
ruary with the release of Graph- 
Builder 3.2 and its accompany- 
ing Graph Object Library. By 
incorporating user-definable 
preferences, GraphBuilder can 
be used to integrate data and 
report generation into custom 
applications, according to the 
company. The app is priced at 
$198 ($89 for academic custom- 
ers) and includes documentation, 
header files, and a complete API. 
The Graph Object Library comes 
with tech support and on-site 
training. WI: 814/234=9613. 

Ciusa hi January announced that 
! it had signed agreements with 
I Olduvai Corporation to license 
I Olduvai's Macintosh ArtClips, 
ArtFonts, BrushFonts, and Cool- 
Fonts for NEXTSTEP. Ciusa will 
sell the $129 and $149 packages 
as stand-alone products and bun- 
dled with other Ciusa offerings. 
Ciusa: 612/822-1604. 

Jackson, a Taiwan-based devel- 
oper of Chinese publishing soft- 
ware, has released a free Chinese 
PostScript font for NEXTSTEP. 
The KaiSu font, one of 33 avail- 
able from the company, will be 
distributed by the Taiwan NeXT 
User Group and placed in major 
ftp sites around the world. Tai- 
wan NeXT User Group: david@ 
twnug.info.com. 

Developer Thierry Charles has 

shipped beta versions of Report- 
Builder and ReportEngine, two 
tools for generating reports from 
client-server databases. Demo 
copies are available via ftp from 
cs.orst.edu and novaxcpurdue. 
edu. Contact: 33/67/22.48.66; 
infos@seldon.fdn.org. 



QbjectWorirJ [rommceu] 

nered with NeXT instead of Tali- 
gent because u NEXTSTEP has 
all the bugs out and is ahead of it 
all; Taligent is still bumping into 
walls," he. said, 

"And even when [Tangent and 
Microsoft] are done, NeXT will be 
better." 

When OpenStep becomes avail- 
able on Solaris, "it has a great 
chance of becoming the object 
standard for open systems," said 
Paul Vais, NeXT's director of 
strategic alliances. 

To prepare for this future ver- 
sion of Solaris, NeXT officials en- 
couraged developers to continue 
writing applications on NEXT- 
STEP for Intel, promising 95-per- 
cent compatibility with OpenStep 
for Solaris. 

SunSoft officials pledged to their 
customers that the existing 8500 
Solaris applications will run under 
OpenStep, while reminding them 
of the promised benefits that object- 
based application development 
will bring. 

"Customers are more and more 
fed up with software development," 
Green said. "They want instead 
to run their business. They want 
to buy objects instead of develop- 
ing them." 

While officials remained tight- 



lipped about many details, Green 
did say that developers at NeXT 
have already extracted OpenStep 
from the NEXTSTEP operating 
system, and SunSoft developers 
have begun porting it to Solaris. 

He also said that, while final 
packaging decisions have not been 
made, SunSoft will make Open- 
Step available on Solaris as "part 
of the system," instead of charg- 
ing extra for it. 

Developers took- in the an- 
nouncements and pondered their 
moves. 

"OpenStep could open up a 
door for us to take technology 
that we've already developed to. 
[the NEXTSTEP] market- 
place," said Nathan Hatch, 
WordPerfect Corporation's 
product marketing manager for 
UNIX products. 

But WordPerfect will continue 
to do base development for all of 
its UNIX versions on die current 
release of Solaris and stick with its 
November decision to halt devel- 
opment of its word processor, for 
NEXTSTEP, at least for the time 
being, he said. % 

Cam A. Cunningham is the U.S. 
correspondent for the IDG Mews 
Service. Additional reporting by 
CMrWhitmer. 



COSE efforts slowed? 



While the agreement between Sun- 
Soft and NeXT may speed object- 
based application development, 
it could also trip up the efforts of 
the Common Open Software En- 
vironment (COSE) initiative to 
umte UNIX once and for all. 

"It's a concern" that Sun chose 
to adopt NeXT's technology, said 
Larry Loucks, vice-president of 
software architecture with IBM's 
personal software products group. 

Industry insiders and other 

'[FROM paci 13] 
environment, and those who want 
to migrate from standard UNIX," 
Schad said. 

Nevertheless, the deal was a set- 
back for NeXT, which bad hoped 
to bring HP into the OpenStep 
camp. In the deal, HP acquired 15 
percent of Taligent and gained a 
seat on Taligent's board of direc- 
tors. Taligent will submit object 
API specs to X/Open and the Object 
Management Group, the same 
bodies that will consider OpenStep. 

Unlike OpenStep, in which the 
NEXTSTEP application environ- 
ment is the top layer and is sepa- 
rate from CDE (Common Desk- 



COSE founding members wonder 
where Sun's loyalty lies; IBM and 
Hewlett-Packard, for example, 
have committed to using competing 
Taligent technology. 

But according to Jim Green, 
SunSoft's director of object products, 
"COSE agrees that all vendors 
will build on [CORBA] technology," 
adding that each vendor is pur- 
suing different avenues to build 
the best object-oriented develop- 
ment environment. $ 

top Environment), HP expects to 
use Taligent objects as a middle- 
ware layer under CDE (see dia- 
gram, page 13). 

For Taligent, beleaguered by 
budget battles at IBM and Apple, 
the HP move is a shot in the arm. 
Needing new investment to sus- 
tain itself until it ships a product, 
Taligent had courted both HP 
and Sun for many months. 

According to a Taligent devel- 
oper. Sun's OpenStep agreement 
increased HP's bargaining strength. 
"It wasn't that HP was driven by 
OpenStep to go to Taligent, but 
that OpenStep allowed them to make 
a much better deal," he said. % 



SuOivaii rolls out, carpet for \dsiting NeXT crowd 



As January drew to a close with Washington in a deep freeze, Lt. Sullivan's 
world was a collection of loose ends. At the Pentagon, officials were on 
edge as the drama over Aspin's ouster, toman's self-immolation, and Perry's 
indecision left a power vacuum. The NeXT community was assembling for three 
days of pep talks over in Woodley Park, but the conference kickoff was still 24 
hours away. Meanwhile, the boys at NeXTWORLD were clamoring for Sullivan's 
latest dispatch from the front. 

Couldn't we just hold off a couple of days for events to settle, Sullivan won- 
dered. Sorry, Lieutenant, a deadline is a deadline. 

NeXT has deadlines, too, Sullivan discovered during a 
preconference schmooze in the hotel bar. The company has 
to cement its technology lead with some serious sales this 
year, execs told the sales force in a company meeting the 
day before. The targets: 100,000 units this year, 300,000 
in '35, and 500,000 in '96, That would leave NeXT with a 
million-seat installed base before its competitors are able 
to grab even a toehold in the object wars. 

Company execs sketched out a future product strategy 
that features a 3,3 release with OBKit 2 and whatever else 
is ready in mid-1994, with 4.0 scheduled for next year. 

The comic high point of the meeting was an intramural 
game of NeXT Jeopardy, in which salespeople were tested on 
their knowledge of Redwood City trivia - or, in one case, 
tongue twisters. Asked to name NeXTs vice president of sates 
and marketing, VP of North American sales, and director of 
corporate marketing, District Manager Fred Ciardana came 
up with "Wesemann, Weiss, Weissman," but in the wrong order. 

The best comeback since David Gergen has to be FrameMaker for NEXTSTEP. 
Apparently some heroic efforts by NeXT staffers coupled with loud customer voic- 
es has convinced Frame Technologies to climb back into the proverbial Jacuzzi. 
Nothing has been announced yet, but it looks like dreams are coming true. 

The Lighthouse Design buying spree mentioned last issue is not the only sip 
of activity at the firm. The company is in the process of bringing on more 
programmers for its forthcoming CASE tool app, developed to order for 
two major NeXT customers. Meanwhile, the company was already showing its 
two mainstream apps. Diagram! and Concurrence, running on PA-RISC. Finally, 
lighthouse's self-styled Mesa-killer appears to be on track for a precision midyear 
appearance. 



Lt. Sullivan 




While Sullivan's stock in trade is outguessing the future, he isn't above 
wallowing in the past Earlier in the month, Sullivan dropped by the MacWorld show 
in San Francisco and found that he wasn't the only one feeling nostalgic for the 
ten-year-old Macintosh dream. A panel of early Mac veterans, including Guy 
Kawasaki, Andy Hertzfeld, Steve Capps, Joanna Hoffman, Mike Murray, and Sill 
Atkinson, reminisced about the Mac's salad days and reached for some lessons 
learned. Ail agreed that Steve Jobs had been much maligned in the press and that, 
though some of them still bear the scars from his volcanic temper, he really was 
a genius without whom the Macintosh revolution would 
never have happened. 

As for NeXT, well, they hemmed a bit and hawed a lit- 
tle, but the consensus was that NeXTs technology was really 
interesting and the Sun-NeXT deaf would help Steve's latest 
venture find its niche. 



T 

a a 



hen there was this other historical footnote, a piece of 
e-mail dated March 13, 1993, from Scott MeNealy to 
an unnamed NEXTSTEP developer. You'll recall that this 
was the period when NeXT, having just dumped hardware, 
turned down what many considered an attractive offer from Sun. 
Here's Scooter's contemporaneous reaction: "I have nothing 
against Steve. 1 am a businessman, not a society columnist. 
NeXT has done some interesting software. We have offered for 
NeXT to port ft to SPARC and/or Solaris. They have chosen to 
spend their efforts elsewhere. Either NeXT makes more com- 
pdiQg.«iAiMar^ mafcerMbr deabtoixihsSBl iaita«^«iai«BS 
different business choices, or continues to pin speed while losing altitude,! 
fear they are gaining speed." 

What a difference a year makes. Sack in the present, Sullivan placed a 
call to arrange a suite for a late-night reception and information exchange some- 
time later in the week. It would hardly be sporting - like shooting ducks in a 
barrel Check this space next month for a full report on the gossip from the D.C. 
conference. 



NeXT may have turned down DEC on a NEXTSTEP port to Alpha, but 
the Lieutenant would never turn down a request for a mug from a good 
tipster. It's yours in trade for an insider tip. Leave me voice mad at 415/ 
978-1374 or e-mail me atsullwan@nextworld.com. Sullivan's public RSA 
key available upon request. 



MARCH 1994 




SIMSON00002092 



The NeXTWORLD fop 50 

Looking back at our first snapshot of the NEXTSTEP 

market ("NeXT Market Mosaic," Summer 1992), 

I impressive numbers and broad market penetration 

were more the exception than the rule. As we ^p 

eyeball the market today, it's easy to see NeXT's gains in 





' 



•developing a presence in enterprise computing. 

This new list, compiled from research and customer inter- 
views, sports much larger sites and several new market segments with strong growth 
potential. And NeXT's recent alliances with HP and Sun are providing strong 



encouragement in many quarters. 

Despite this obvious growth, 
small because many companies are 
ects or building prototypes before 
enterprisewide rollout. Our inter- 
this buying pattern is common in 
of the market. For example, VME, a 
of furniture-sales companies, has only 



, tfiBSf' 




numbers occasionally remain 
finishing pilot proj- 
embarking on an 
views indicate that 
many segments 
German union 
20 machines 





* ROLL 5 




#V9 



but has agreed to purchase over 8000 more seats.The same is true for other promising 
European, health-care, and financial-services sites, which appear in the chart (high- 
lighted in red) because their plans indicate serious potential for growth. 

According to industry sources, interest remains strong and NEXTSTEP continues to flourish in finan- 
cial-services and commodities-trading firms. A custom commodities-trading application developed by 
Phibro Energy has become a sought-after tool, luring at least three other sites into choosing NEXTSTEP. 

And in telecommunications, industry leaders are signing on, which could lead to a trickle-down effect in 

the remainder of that market. 

On the down side, many university representatives voiced concerns about NeXT's lack of support and disinterest in sell- 
ing new seats into their market, jeopardizing a good opportunity to seed NEXTSTEP dedication in the future work force. 
Government sites, while apparently also growing, were difficult to pin down because of the classified nature of their work. 

The NEXTSTEP market has a stronger pulse this year. Between NeXT's cross-platform alliances and its continued expan- 
1 sion in promising new directions, the heart rate of the market should only become healthier, by Paul Curthoys 




Photographs by David Magnijsson 



SIMSON00002093 



F E A T U B E 



Top 50 NEXTSTEP Sites 



NAME 



Financial services 



Swiss Bank Corporation 

Chrysler Financial Corporation 

First National Bank of Chicago 

Phiero Energy 

Trimark Financial Corporation 

Union Bank of Switzerland 

NattonsBanc-CRT 

Federal National Mortgage Assn. (Fannie Mae) 

Republic New York Corporation 

EOTT Energy Corporation 

Dow Jones Telerate 

PEMEX 



Value Behavioral Health ] 
Mt. Clemens Hospital 
Alberta Children's Hospital 
Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center 
ABBorr Labs 
Glenrosf Rehabilitate I 



GOVERNMENT J 



U.S. Ajr Force and U.S. Navy- 
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department 
Advanced Research Projects Agency 
City of Baltimore 
Alberta Registries 



Telecommunications 



Williams Telecommunications 
McCaw Cellular 
US West 
Rogers Cantel 
MCI Consumer 



LOCATION 

Basel, Switzerland; Chicago; and London 

Detroit, various locations in United States 

Chicago 

Greenwich, CT; Westport, CT 

Toronto, Ontario 

New York 

Chicago 

Washington, D.C. 

New York 

Houston 

Jersey City, NJ 

Mexico City 




TYPE OF BUSINESS 

Financial institution 
Auto financing 
Financial institution 
Commodities trading 
Mutual-fund management 
Financial trading 
Financial trading 
Home-mottgage underwriting 
Financial trading 
Gas and oil trading 
Financial-data feeds 
Mexican national oil and gas company 



Falls Church, VA 
Warren, Ml 
Calgary, Alberta 
Chicago 
Abbott Park, IL 
atoo, Alberta 

Various throughout United States 

Los Angeles 

Arlington, VA 

Baltimore 

Edmonton, Alberta 

The Woodlands, TX; Tulsa, OK 

Seattle 

Denver, Minneapolis 

Toronto 

Washington, D.C; Denver; Colorado Springs, CO 



INSTALLED 

2500 

700 

-400 

300 

-220 

-150 

100 

-100 

60 

23 

12 

N.A. 



Managed health care 600 

Hospital 130 

Hospital 85 

Hospital 80 

Medical-equipment manufacturing 75-80 2 

Rehabilitation medicine 45 

Defense 4000-5000 

Public safety 619 

Federal research-funding agency -100 

Transportation and budget research 66 

Registry of vehicle and property information 50 

Private-line carrier 330 

Cellular-phone service and sales 250 

Local-phone services 100 

Cellular- phone service and sales 60 

Long-distance phone carrier 10 



Val Verde Unified School District 

University of Alberta 

Allegheny College 

Stanford University 

Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology 

Indiana University 

University of Maryland 

Slmon Fraser University 

FTESM 

Princeton University 



Riverside, CA 
Edmonton, Alberta 
Meadviile, PA 
Stanford, CA 
Terre Haute, IN 
Btoomingtcm, IN 
College Park, MD 
Burnaby, British Columbia 
Monterrey, Mexico 
Princeton, NJ 



K-12 school district 
Higher education 
Higher education 
Higher education 
Higher education 
Higher education 
Higher education 
Higher education 
Higher education 
Higher education 



572 

305 

300 

248 

240 

200 

-200 

170 

164 

150-175 



Delo Publishing 

LlNKLATERS & PAINES 

Teleholding 

Ticino Vita 

London Stock Exchange 

VME 

Barclays Bank 

Combo 

NUEG 



Professional services 



BJK&E 

Alain Pinel Realtors 

William Morris Agency 

Organization Resource Counselors 

Trident Data Systems 

Los Alamos National Laboratory 
Stratus Computers 
PanCanadian Petroleum 
Pinole Point Steel 
Morrison-Knudsen 



Ljubljana, Slovenia 

London 

Amsterdam, The Netherlands 

Lugano, Switzerland 

London 

Various throughout Germany 

London 

Utrecht, The Netherlands 

Hannover, Germ. 

New York, Dallas 

Various in San Francisco Bay area 

Beverly Hills, CA 

New York 

Los Angeles 

Los Alamos, NM 
Marlboro, MA 
Calgary, Alberta 
Richmond, CA 
Boise, ID 



Magazine and news publishing 
Law firm 

Commercial telecommunications 
Life insurance 
Stock trading 

Union of furniture-sales companies 
Financial institution 
Mobile communications network- 
City planning 

Advertising 
Real estate 
Talent agency 
Human resources 
Computer services 

Research 

Computer manufacturing 
Oil and gas production 
Steel manufacturing 
Mining coal and gold 



160 

150 

140 

80 

60 

20 

25 

45 

40 

1000+ 

385 

375 

-50 

-50 

250 

-200 

100-200 

43 

35 



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18 WXim MARCH 1994 




SIMSON00002094 



INSTALLED 



F E A T I H E 



75-80- 




NOW, GET NEXT-GENERATION 

Graphics-Engine performance. 
At Affordable. PC-Type Prices. 





nent was not available for pubbcarion. 




Introducing the LOGISYS NX family. 

The first NeXTSTEP 486 workstation 

for object-oriented applications. 



LOG/SYS 



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one of the world's leading 
producers of consumer 
and industrial electronics. 
Our careful attention to 
quality and our commitment 
to customer satisfaction have 
built a reputation for reliable 
products of unsurpassed 
value. And with our new 
LOGISYS NX line, this 
commitment continues. 



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Products 

LOGISYS 450NX/2 

50 MHz 486DX/2 microprocessor with 
256 KB cache memory 

LOGISYS 466NX/2 

66 MHz 486DX/2 microprocessor with 
256 KB cache memory 

Standard System Features 

Processor 

Mel 80466DX/2-50 MHz, upgradable to 
DX/2-66MHz 

Cache 

Internal 8 KB and external 256 KB 
Memory 

16 MB of high-speed memory, 
expandable to 128 MB 



Offices 

San Jose 



Lucky-Goldstar Intl. (America), Inc. 

4487 Technology Drive 

Fremont, CA 94538 

Tel: (510) 657-2229 Fax: (510) 657-3339 

New Jersey 

Lucky-Goldstar Intl. (America), Inc. 

1000 Sylvan Avenue 

Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632 

Tel: (201) 816-2225 Fax: (201) 816-0867 

Los Angeles 

Lucky-Goldstar Intl. (America), Inc. 

L.A. Branch 

13013 East 166th Street 

Cerritos, CA 90701 

Tel: (310) 404-2626 Fax: (310) 926-0849 



Graphics 

WinGine graphics controller with 2 MB 
32-bit VRAM, advanced true color 
RAMDAC to 65K colors, resolution to 

1280x1024 

Disk Drive 

One 3.5" FDD and standard 260 MB 
HDD, IDE interface 

Storage 

Two 3.5" bays for FDD/HDD and three 
5.25" bays for FDD/tape backup/CD- 
ROM drive 

Interfaces 

Two serial, one parallel, and PS/2 
mouse port 

Mouse 

Microsoft PS/2 mouse 
Expansion 

One 8-bit, five 16-bit, one VESA local 
bus, and one WinGine local bus 

Power Supply 

200 Watts with manual line switching 
Monitor 

15" SVGA color monitor, 0.28-mm, 
1024x768 resolution, 30 KHz-60 KHz (H), 
50Hz-90Hz(V)range 



Options 

Memory 

16 MB (STD), 20 MB, 32 MB, 64 MB, and 
128 MB using 1MB, 4 MB, 16 MB, 

64 MB SIMMs 

Floppy Disk 

5.25" 1.2 MB floppy disk drive 
Hard Disk 

260 MB (STD), 340 MB, 450 MB IDE and 
540 MB, 1050 MB SCSI with Adaptec 
1542CF adapter 

Mouse 

Microsoft PS/2 mouse (STD), bus 
mouse, and Logitech 3-button bus 
mouse 

Software 

Microsoft MS-DOS V6.2, Windows V3.1, 
NeXTSTEP 486 and more... 

Monitor 

15" (STD), 17", and 20" SVGA monitor; 
others are also available 

Other 

LAN card, CD-ROM drive, sound card 
Cabinet 

Desktop with 200 Watts (STD), 
mini tower, and full tower case with 
250 Watts power supply 



London 

Lucky-Goldstar Intl. (U.K.), Ltd. 

4th Floor, C.P. House 

97-107 Uxbridge Road 

Ealing London W5 5TL, England 

Tel: (081) 579-8877 Fax: (081) 840-1658 

Frankfurt 

Lucky-Goldstar Intl (Deutschland), GmbH 

Lyoner Stern, 

Lyoner/Ecke Hahnstrasse 70 

6000 Frankfurt Am Main 71, Germany 

Tel: (069) 663-0070 Fax: (069) 666-6665 



Seoul 

Lucky-Goldstar International Corp. 
20 Yoido-dong, Youngdungpo-gu 
Seoul 150-606, Korea 
Tel: (02) 787-5482/5 Fax: (02) 783-7775 

Sydney 

Lucky-Goldstar International Corp. 

Suite 902, 9th Floor 

83 Mount Street 

North Sydney 2060 NSW, Australia 

Tel: (02) 957-4941 Fax: (02) 957-3274 



° 1" * ""T*. "i^ ° f i-MKy-fidd.ur Irtemnional Corp. MS-DOS and Wiidon are restored tataail of Mfcraarft Corporal NeXTSTEP m h . 
reOMn* tndemrk of f. ei T Computer, lie, WinGioe is > registered [,.*«»* „r Chip, & Teeimotasie,, i nt . ten, and Overdrive .re reared mdemrt, of Intel 

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LUCKY-GOLDSTAR 

INTERNATIONAL 



PLANS 

Confidential 
2500 

30 more in 1994 
50 more in 1994 
300 maximum 
Will grow 
200 more in 1994 
75 more in Ql 1994; a 
40 more in 1994 
200-300 more 
150 more in 1994 
150 in 1994 

None in die near future 
40-50 more in 1994 
250 more by 1996 
Will grow 

Possibly 100-200 more 
100-1 50 in 1994 




Continued growth 
Will expand 
Not determined 
Growth possible 
Not in the near future 

100 more in 1994 
4000 by 1996 
Not determined 
600 in 1994 
40 more in 1994 




200400 more 

None 

75-100 more possible i 

None 

None 

None 

May grow 

None 

10 more in 1994 

None 

300 by 1994 

1600 

50-100 more 

Slight growth 

140 in 1994 

8000+ 

-2000+ 

250 more by 19% 

m 

Confidential 

450 

Not in the near future 

50 more in 1994 

Growth Likely 

10-20 more 
200 more in 1994 
1000-1200 
None 
15 more 



SIMSON00002098 



FEATURE 



PLANS 

Confidential 

2500 

30 more in 1994 

50 more in 1994 

300 maximum 

Will grow' 

200 more in 1994 

75 more in Ql 1994; more later 

40 more in 1994 

200-300 more 

150 more in 1994 

150 in 1994 



None in the near future 

40-50 more in 1994 

250 more by 1996 

Will grow 

Possibly 100-200 more by 1995 

100-150 in 1994 



Continued growth 
Will expand 
Not determined 
Growth possible 
Not in the near future 

100 more in 199 
4000 by 1996 
Not determined 
600 in 1994 
40 more in 1994 



200-400 more 

None 

75-100 more possible in 1994 

None 

None 

None 

May grow 

None 

10 more in 1994 

None 



M0T0R0LA:INTEL 

9:1 

All Intel 

Mostly Motorola 

All Motorola 

Mostly Motorola 

9:1 

1:3 

Mostly Motorola 

Mostly Motorola 

All Intel 

All Intel 



All Motorola 

All Motorola 

1:15 

7:1 

1:1 

1:8 



All Motorola 

2:1 

Mostly Motorola 

All Motorola 

All Motorola 

6:1 

Mostly Intel 
Almost all Intel 
1:5 
All Intel 



All Intel 

60:1 

24:1 

Mostly Motorola 

All Motorola 

Mostly Motorola 

All Motorola 

All Motorola 

Mostly Motorola 

Mostly Motorola 



OTHER SYSTEMS IN USE 

Sun, HP, PCs 
None 

Sun, HI', PCs 
Sun, Auspex 
Sun, VAX, PCs, Mac 
Sun, DEC 
HP 

PCs, Sun 
Sun, PCs, DEC 
HP 

HP, Sun 
HP 



USES 

Trading, office automation, e-mail 

Custom auto-financing system 

Office automation, custom risk-management software 

Custom apps for trading and risk-management 

Accounting, office support, mutual-fund client service 

Trading of stocks, options, and futures 

Custom derivatives-pricing app 

Custom collateral-management apps 

Word processing in legal department 

Commodities-trading app 

me financial m software development 

Comr: ding api 




Sequent, Mac, PCs 

Sun, PCs 

None 

Suns, PCs 

Sun 

Tandem 



E-mail, system for tracking information on care providers 
Patient-care system 
Patient-care system 

Personal productivity, custom administrative app 
Custom medical-information processing app 
ton system 




Sun, HP. DEC, VAX, Auspex, Pyramid 

DEC, Sun, Sequent, PCs 

Sun, SGI 

PCs 

PCs 

HP, Sun, PCs 

Sun, HP, PCs, DEC, VAX 

Sun, HP 

IBM, Sun, HP, DEC 

HP 



E-mail, office automation, custom administrative apps 

E-mail, custom apps 

Office automation 

Office automation in parking bureau and budget department 

Accessing vehicle-registry information, office automation 

Custom-software development, office automation 

Customer-service management 

Office automation, custom apps 

Developing and using apps for customer sales and service 

Proprietary development of telecommunications software 




IBM, SGI, Sun, Mac, PCs 

HP, Sun, DEC. Mac, PCs 

Mac, UNIX workstations, Sun, DEC 

HP, Sun, DEC, PCs 

SGI, Sun, Ultrex, DEC, Mac, PCs 

Sun, IBM, Mac, PCs 

Sun, Mac, PCs, SGI 

HP. Sun, IBM 

Sun, SGI, HP, PCs 



Administration and business management, instruction, custom apps 
Research, teaching math, and software development 
Student and specialized labs, faculty desktops, custom apps 
Multimedia development, programming classes, music research 
Open labs, math instruction 
Instruction in various subjects 

Teaching lab for UNIX, engineering and computer-science classes 
Open and computer-science lab, system administration, teaching 
Computer lab. satellite delivery ol education programs, custom apps 
Library card-catalog system, instruction 



30Obyl994 

1600 

50-100 more 

Slight growth 

140 in 1994 

8000+ 

-2000+ 

250 more by 1996 



Confidential 
450 
d Not in the near future 
50 more in 1994 
Growth likely 



10-20 more 
200 more in 1994 
1000-1200 
None 
15 more 



3:1 

2:3 

All Motorola 

Mostly Motorola 

1:3 

Intel 
All Intel 
All Motorola 

1:1 

Mostly Motorola 
All Motorola 
Mostly Motorola 
All Motorola 

4: 

Mostly Intel 
Mostly Intel 
All Motorola 
6:1 



None 
Wang 
Sun, HP 
HP, IBM 
DEC, Sun 
None 
PCs 
None 
HP 

SGI, PCs, Mac 
None 
None 
PCs, IBM 
Macs, PCs, Sun 



Sun, HP, SGI, Mac, PCs 

Sun 

Sun, PCs 

Sun 

PCs, Mac, HP, Wang 




Management of editorial and production processes 
Office productivity 

Interactive telephone voice-response system 
Custom app for life-insurance management, PDO 
Office automation, monitoring the U.K. domestic stock market 
Custom app for business management 
ce productivity 

luting transportation schema and radiotelephone tra 
Office productivity 

Process reengineering 

Office automation, custom apps 

Office automation, client directory, phone logs, tracking talent info 

Custom apps, office productivity 

Software development, office automation 



Office automation, development of scientific apps 
Customer-service app and database 

Development of custom apps for managing and marketing fuel 
MRP, financial analysis, and custom manufacturing software 
Monitoring gold-mining processes, office automation 



11 a n/~*J r -inn a 



SIMSON00002099 




Dock Soup Returns 



i^ Beth K a m o r o f f and Dan L a v i n 




PWjH nat follows is a summary of reviews that have appeared in 
1 I 1 1 NeXTWORLD since the Summer 1992 issue, which was 
■ I M re ' ease ^ near 'y two years ago. Looking at the products side 
B j M l ^ s ^ e y ]e 'ds some interesting insights: Groupware is a rich 
^^^^" source for emerging products; there is solid support for data- 
base computing; and, despite NeXT's lack of concentration on the pub- 
lishing market, outstanding products continue to ship. Tailor, the savvy 
PostScript editor, is a recent example. Also, hardware ratings are high, 
reflecting the impressive quality of hardware being sold for NEXTSTEP. 

To reiterate our reviews criteria, three cubes indicate a workmanlike 
product that does the job, while four cubes is the maximum for a product 
that is outstanding but does not push the envelope. Only one product, the 
ZyXEL fax modem, has received five cubes - our indication of a nearly 
bug-free product that stretches the limits of the unique opportunities of 
NEXTSTEP. Products earning two cubes generally have flaws and bugs, 
while products with cube ratings of one cube or less have serious problems. 

Product reviews in NeXTWORLD reflect the collective judgement of 
the reviewer and the editorial staff. We stand behind our reviews and invite 
comment on or discussion of our views. 

This listing of NEXTSTEP products is not comprehensive, and only 
provides a summary of our reviews. Cube ratings and summaries are for 
the product version that we last reviewed, which is not always the current 
version. This listing only extends back to our Summer 1992 issue because 
we felt that previous reviews would be outdated by now. Products that 
fall in the categories of database adapters, objects, and content titles are 
not listed because these areas have many products that did not yet 
receive formal ratings or are still in development. Similarly, products that 
have not shipped or are no longer shipping are not listed. 

Listings are in the following format: Product name and version as 
reviewed; date of issue; cube rating, current version, and current price; 
summary; and contact information. The step icon indicates a Best of Breed 
award winner. 



20 KKIWNUI MARCH 1994 



Productivity 

Checksum 1.0, Nov 1993 
M«M(Ver.l.l2,$95) 

An excellent job for personal finan- 
ces but falls short in its claims for 
small-business accounting. Intuitive 
organization simplifies management 
of multiple bank and charge accounts. 
Sinus Solutions, 415/957-9044, 415/ 
957-1921 fax; giocker@sirius.com. 

conText 1.0, Dec 1993 

# $ ($919) 

Disappointing translating and spell- 
checking program, German only in 
its first version. 

Lots Scneiders Kraft GbR, 46/631/ 
109.91, 49/631/109.92 fax. 

DataWise 1.0, Sep 1993 
#«!(Ver. 2.0.1, $69] 

Rewrite of Calendoscope schedul- 
ing program that is almost as weak 
as the original. 

Chm, 612/822-1604, 612/9224426 
fax; ciusa@cup.portai.com. 

FastTrack Schedule 2.0, Jun/Jul 1993 

# $ # Si ($495) 

This Ganrt chart-based scheduling 
program did a solid job of organiz- 
ing projects and tracking progress. 
AEC Software, 703/450-1980, 703/ 
450-9786 fax; aectech@applelink. 
appk.com. 

fiscal Dimension 1.0, Apr/May 1993 
M (Ver.L2,$249) 

Billed as NEXTSTEP'S only per- 
sonal-finance application, it has more 
in common with ledger books than 
checkbooks. Given a little effort, it 
will fit the bill, but a quirky inter- 
face remains a liability. 
AXSYS, 215/667-6822, 215/667- 
2654 fax; info@axsys.com. 

i Mesa 1.4, Aug 1993 
M#4(Ver. 1.5a, $499] 

Mesa sets out to be a straightfor- 
ward basic spreadsheet, and that's 
just what it is. A macro recorder and 
a better undo would be nice, but 
Mesa gets the job done. 
Athena Design, 61 7/734-6372, 61 7/ 
734-1 130 fax; info@athena.com. 

Mesa Sunrise 1.5, Oct 1993 

# # # ($349) 

This stripped-down, low-cost version 
of Mesa is a fast, basic spreadsheet. 
Athena Design, 61 7/734-6372, 617/ 
734-1 130 fax; info@athena.com. 



Intel Hardware 

Alpine NX Tower (manufactured by 
Lexar), Feb 1994 

# # # $ ($5699 [without soft- 
ware] as configured] 

Very good price with strong perfor- 
mance slowed by middling SCSI disk 
and somewhat slow S3 graphics. 
Alpine Computing MicroAge, 801/ 
268-8877, 801/268-9096 fax. 

ALR Evolution IV 4E/66D, Jan 1994 
$ $ % si ($5838 as configured) 

Strong system design at a competitive 
price with good performance but has 
outdated disk and slow ATI graphics. 
AIR, 7141581-6770, 714/581-9240 
fax. 



Pro Lexis Version 1.1a, Sep 1993 
# # $ < ($395) 

Easy-to-use and thorough French 
language dictionary and spell checker 
with grammer reference. Works with 
existing word processors. 
Plexus Distribution, 514/270-1831. 

QuantaFlow 1.1, Dec 1993 
M«(Ver.L2,$750) 

A solid client-server-based double- 
entry accounting system for smaller 
businesses. Its innovative approach 
to computerized accounting is a win 
in the long term but lacks certain 
important features. 
Sumeris Technology, 612/474-6505, 
612/470-3593 fax; info@sumeris. 
com. 

Questor 1.01, Aug 1993 
Ms1(Ver.2.0$495) 

Questor's elegant design, innovative 
features, and exemplary NeXT in- 
terface are more than offset by unac- 
ceptably slow recalculation and file 
operations. 

Xanthus International AB, 46/8/ 
635-3060; questor@xanthus.se. 

RedMark, Win 1992 
M# (Ver. 1.2.1, $285] 

Easy enough to use and professional 
in approach, this document mark- 
up package matches, but not improve 
on, editing on paper. 
Epitome, 615/675-0910, 615/966- 
2558 fax; 72677. 1034@compuserve. 
com (NeXTmail welcome). 



Taskmaster 1.5, Dec 1993 
MM ($1395) 

A project-management program 

competitve with leading apps on 

other platforms. 

Lighthouse Design, 415/570-7736, 

415/570-7787 fax; info @light- 

house.com. 




SIM SON 00002 100 



FEATURE 



Continental Professional NeXT Work- 
station, Dec 1993 

# $ $ # ($7610 as configured] 

Fast SCSI jazzes up GX chassis, but 
has slow ATI graphics and is not the 
low-price leader. 
Continental Computer Systems, 
203/953-8649, 800/829-3297 fax. 

Data General Dasher 486 DX2/66 LE2, 
Oct 1993 

# # # # ($7500 as configured) 

Powerful machine at reasonable 
price hampered by ATI graphics. 
Data General, 800/343-8842 (US), 
33/1/40.94.62.82 (Europe), 65/258/ 
99.77 (Asia, Pacific). 

Dell 450 DE2/DGX, Nov 1993 
% $ $ si ($8297 as configured) 

High price tag, but worth it for super- 
fast JAWS video. 

Dell Computer Corporation, 512/ 
3384400, 512/7944238 fax. 

Epson NX User System, Oct 1993 
% % % {$4949 as configured) 

Superior video offset by low horse- 
power design. 

Epson America, 310/782-0770, 310/ 
782-5179 fax. 

GEC F86, Jan 1994 

# $ % $ ($5745 as configured) 

Low price for highly rated machine. 
Good performance, average graphics. 
GEC, 602/834-1111, 602/834-1522 
fax. 

Lexar NSCStation IDE, Feb 1994 
#$^1($5699 plus S850 CD- 
ROM as configured) 

Lots of extras for good price make 

for a solid value. Fast machine held 

back by IDE drive and slowish 

graphics. 

Lexar, 609/890-9000, 609/890-3179 

fax, 

Logisys LG466NX/2, Nov 1993 
$ % % % ($5266 as configured) 

Good video, strong performance, 
reasonable price. 

Lucky Goldstar Int'l (America), 5101 
657-2229, 510/657-3339 fax. 

Workstation 2000 W2000-PGX02, 
Dec 1993 

# # % $ ($7223 as configured) 

Solid value GX chassis as configured 
but has slow ATI graphics. 

Workstation 2000, 619/7234827, 
619/723-4827 fax. 



Database and Information 
Management 

DataPhile 2.0, Dec 1993 
## M (Ver. 2.1, $695] 

This classic NEXTSTEP app is an 
interface innovator and fun to work 
with. .Although missing features such 
as record-level locking, multiuser 
access, and report summaries, Da- 
taPhile 2,0 remains the mainstream 
choice for flat-file databases. 
Stone Design, 505/3454800, 505/ 
345-3424 fax; info@stone.com. 

'NoteBook 1.1, Apr/May 1993 
st $ $ % si (Ver. 12, $495) 

An elegant synthesis of ideas yields 
a breakthrough application for stor- 
ing, retrieving, and processing ran- 
dom information. Many users will 
use NoteBook as a central applica- 
tion that they constantly keep active. 
Millennium Software Labs, 4151 
321-3720, 415/321-3650 fax; mfo@ 
millennium.com. 

OnDuty, Sum 1992 
$$sl (Ver.RlV34,$249) 

A light-duty contact organizer de- 
signed for individual NeXT users 
and small workgroups. Straightfor- 
ward with reasonable performance. 
Digital Instrumentation Technologies, 
505/662-1459, 505/662-0897 fax; 
od-request@dit.com, 

PapyrusForms 1.0.1, Oct 1993 
$ si ($249) 

PapyrusForms serves adequately as 
a system for storing and printing 
digital forms, but it falls short in 
design tools, database connectivity, 
and workgroup features. 
Ensuing Technologies, 702/792- 
6750, 702/792-6794 fax; mfo@ 
ensuing.com. 

Pencil Me In, Apr/May 1993 
«M# si (Ver. 1.1, $2991 

Easy-to-use personal scheduler that 
scales up for use by small work- 
groups. While more flexible than 
most, could be improved by provid- 
ing more personalization options. 
Sarrus Software, 415/345-8950, 4151 
345-9365 fax; info@sarrus.com. 

SBook 3.1, Jan 1994 
# # % s$ si ($199) 

This fast and reliable contact man- 
ager can find the person you want 
to contact, send e-mail and faxes, 
dial the phone, keep a log of your 
phone notes, and print envelopes, 
lables, and address books. Recom- 
mended without reservation. 



Sarrus Software, 4151345-8950, 415/ 
345-9365 fax; info@sarrus.com. 

SpeedDeX, Sum 1992 
### (beta Intel, $149) 

A simple, free-form database that is 
easy to use. Its price makes it a good 
value for meeting the simplest data- 
base needs. 

Information Technology Solutions, 
312/587-2000, 312/474-9361 fax; 
info@its.com, 

(Stay)lnTouch 1.25 (beta), Jan 1994 
## $ (Ver. 1.26, $125) 

A competent contact manager. Some 
important featuers are missing, in- 
cluding the ability to sort entries by 
last name. 

SmartSoft, 414/964-8864, 414/964- 
4672 fax; smartsoft@parsec,mixcom. 

VarioData 2.6, Dec 1993 
### si (Ver. 3.0.1, $749) 

VarioData is two apps for database 
design and database access. Vario- 
Builder lacks DataPhile's extensive 
design tools, but both apps are solid 
performers. Together, they take the 
pain out of database publishing. 
d'Art Computersysteme GmbH, 491 
40/38.02.30, 49/40/38.02.32.90 
fax; software@dart.de. Alembic Sys- 
tems, 303/799-6223, 3031799-1435 
fax; info@alembic.com. 

Vertex Librarian 1.2, Jun/Jul 1993 
# % % ($399) 

Conceptual searching and hypertext 
linking are added to standard Digi- 
tal Librarian features, but interface 
flaws contribute to a less-than-pleas- 
ant experince. 

Vertex Software, 412/931-7600, 412/ 
323-7175 fax. 

What's Happening, Feb/Mar 1993 
### (Ver. 3.0, $275) 

Group-scheduling application that 
has most needed features. Underly- 
ing database lends an industrial feel. 
Adamation, 510/452-5252, 510/452- 
5033 fax; info@adamation.com. 



and Emulation 

Conned It! 1.0.1, Nov 1993 
# s^sf $ (Ver. 1.3, $145) 

This UUCP front end greatly sim- 
plifies the ease of setting up UUCP 
and e-mail connections. Despite its 
inability to handle preexisting con- 
nections, it is a valuable tool. 
Black Market Technologies, 7181 
522-5090, 718/8524249 fax; info® 
bmt.gun.com. 



Cub'X Window 2.01, Sum 1992 
#### (Ver. 4.21, $250-$590) 

A very solid XI 1R4 X Window sys- 
tem for the NeXT computer. Fast 
and complete version of this popu- 
lar workstation system software. 
Annoying copy-protection scheme. 
Interactive Technologies, 33/1/46- 
93-29-25, 33/1/46-93-29-21 fax. 
Alembic Systems, 303/799-6223, 3031 
799-1435 fax; info@alembic.com. 

Microphone II, Feb/Mar 1993 
$$$ (Ver. 5.0, $149) 

Microphone IPs powerful scripting 
tools, devoted phone-support staff, 
and money-back guarantee compen- 
sate for its first-release glitches. 
Software Ventures Corporation, 
510/644-3232, 510/848-0885 fax; 
samir@svedudes.com. 

mix 2.0, Oct 1993 

$$$$ (Ver. 2.02, $200-1100) 

An integrated communications soft- 
ware that combines the functional- 
ity of a fax modem, a telephone, 
and an answering machine. Power- 
ful, but limited data-modem speed 
and hardware requirements. 
Alembic Systems International, 303/ 
799-6223,303f799-1435 fax; info® 
alembic.com. 

Partner 1.17, Oct 1993 

# $ % (Parmer/uShare 1.17, $395) 

Mounts AppleShare volumes under 
the NEXTSTEP file system, enabling 
you to read and write files on Mac- 
intosh computer networks. With in- 
cluded uPrint software, NEXTSTEP 
applications can print to AppleTalk 
printers via the standard Print panel. 
Information Presentation Technolo- 
gies, 805/541-3000, 805/541-3037 
fax; info@iptech.com. 

SoftPC 3.0 Apr/May 1993 
% $ st $ ($549) 

A nearly flawless emulation of a low- 
end '386 PC on NeXTSTEP. Perfor- 
mance is a little slow in Windows, 
but more than adequate for DOS. 

Insignia Solutions, 415/694-7600, 
415/694-3705 fax. 

Groupware 

Front Desk 1.03, Aug 1993 
$$%$ (Ver. 1.1 $429/5 users) 

Electronic version of a receptionist 
for messages and in/out tracking. 
Useful in some environments, super- 
fluous in others. 

Integrity Solutions, 612/223-8484, 
612/223-8481 fax; steve@is.com. 



MARCH 1994 fliXTWDRLD 21 

SIMSON00002101 



FEATURE 






LlveWire, Fall 1992 
$$#$ (Ver. 1.0, $195) 

One of the first true pieces of group- 
ware, LiveWire allows multiple users 
to work collaboratively on the same 
document over a network. 
Adamation, 510/452-5252, 5101 
452-5033 fax; info@adamatmn.com. 

ScreenCast 1.03, Jan 1904 
$ # # # ($140) 

An excellent implementation of a 
remote controller for NEXTSTEP 
machines. A godsend for education, 
technical support, and remote con- 
ferencing. 

Otherwise, 206/647-9436, 206/738- 
601 7 fax; saeencast@otherufise.com. 

Utilities 

Da* Forest, Apr/May 1993 

# $ st \f si (free) 

Excellent shareware for examining 
sizes of files and for cleaning up 
disks. Highly recommended. 
Found on archive servers and CD- 
ROMs by NeXTs Garth Snyder. 

Designer Labels, Jim/Jul 1993 
#M (Ver. 1.0, $99) 

Labeling software and hardware. 
Slow and low resolution, but handy 
for one shots. 

Marble Associates, 408/436-7299, 
408/436-7147 fax. 

Desktop 1.1, Apr/May 1993 

# i ($30) 

A clunky interface mars this pro- 
gram, which provides a window 
onto a larger screenscape. 
Johnson Sieu, P.O. Box 367, Berke- 
ley, CA 94701-0367. 

DiskMaker 1.5, Dec 1993 

# $ $ $ ($115) 

Speedy utility for mass duplication 
of diskettes. Flawless, but best for 
large projects. 

SmartSoft, 414/964-8864, 414/964- 
4672 fax; mfo@SmartSoft.com. 

Engage! Desktop 2.0, Sep 1993 
$ % $ $ i ($149) 

Millennium added desktop icons 
and Smart Levels to its already- 
useful Engage! utility to create a 
product that can change the way 
you use the workspace on a daily 
basis. 

Millennium Software, 415/321-3720, 
415/321-3650 fax; mfo@milknmum. 
com. 

HSDSpeH, Apr/May 1993 

# # # % ($149) 

This replacement for the NEXT- 



STEP spell checker adds and im- 
proved English language dictionary 
and the capability to check spelling 
in any language. 

HSD, 408/774-1400, 408/774-1402 
fax; info@hsd.com. 

Inspected by: Pinnacle, Aug 1993 

# # $ # ($51) 

Inspector gadgets for viewing and 
modifying images and sounds, all 
without leaving the workspace. 
Pinnacle Research, 602/327-8949. 

LoadEye 1.1, Nov 1993 
$ $ ($49) 

Commercial-grade performance 
monitor, but not up to the standard 
of existing shareware. 
Aurora Software, 608/231-3679, 
608/231-1183 fax; info@as.com, 

MetroTools 2.1, Feb 1994 

# # # # ($89) 

The latest version of Metrosoft's util- 
ity package is a winner with feature 
enhancements, improved perfor- 
mance, support for mixed networks 
of black and white computers, and 
an extended API. 

Metrosoft, 619/488-9411, 619/488- 
3045 fax; info@metmsoft.com. 

NetWatchl.0, Dec 1993 

# # # # ($1995) 

A simple-to-use SNMP network 
manager for use in smaller single 
system-administrator installations. 
Works well and as advertised. 
Ridgeback Solutions, 310/456-6094, 
310/456-9715 fax; info@ridgeback. 
com. 

QuickStart 2.0, Jan 1994 

# $ # $ ($79) 

Dock extender that outshines Metro- 
tools version but comes in behind 
Engage. Sereral innovative features. 
Aurora Software, 608/231-3679, 
608/231-1183 fax; info@as.com. 

SafetyNet, Aug 1993 
Utilities Award (Ver. 2.1, $1494399} 

Flexible, reliable, and easy-to-use 
backup software that allows you to 
rapidly find and restore archived 
files and directories. Recommended. 
Systemix Software, 410/290-8813, 
410/290-8813 fax; info@systetnix. 
com. 

Simon Says, Sum 1992 
#### (Ver. 2.0, $295) 

Software that brings affordable voice 
recognition to the NeXT machine. 
This speaker-department, language- 
independent system can be trained 



to work with any NeXT application. 
Metrosoft, 619/488-9411, 619/488- 
3045 fax; info@tnetrosoft.com. 

VirtSpace 3.0, Apr/May 1993 

# $ $ i ($30) 

The most sophisticated of the virtual 

screen programs. Lets you simulate 

both a larger screen and multiple 

monitors. 

Pinnacle Research, 602/327-8949. 

WoridClock,Feh/Marl993 
«M<M(Ver.026.[mi],S49) 

Worldwide clocks in Preferences 
format. Good, but lacks some day- 
light-savings support. Includes var- 
ious alarm options. 
Information Technology Solutions, 
312/587-2000, 312/474-9361 fax; 
info@its.com. 

Publishing and Graphics 

Album, Sum 1992 

# $ ($59) 

Allows you to collect images, sounds, 
and text files (but not applications) 
for quick access, but its functionality 
is superfluous, and its interface is an 
encumbrance. 

Forty-Two Software-Entwickling 
GmbH, 49/40/85.32.4242, 49/40/ 
380.0443 fax; info@forty-2.de. 

ArtBursts: Icons*, Apr/iay 1993 
$ (Ver. 1.1, $109) 

Amateurish black-and-white EPS 
and TIFF icons. 

Gusa, 612/822-1604, 612/922-4426 
fax; ciusa@cup.portal.com. 

CHaRTSMITH 1.0, Feb 1994 

# $$ % (1.1 out in Feb, $495) 

The graphing app of choice for busi- 
ness users because of its effective use 
of the NEXTSTEP interface. With 
the printed docs and API that are 
promised for Version 1.1, it's a con- 
tender for a five-cube rating. 
BLaCKSMlTH,703/524-6147, 7031 
524-7215 fax; mfo@blcksmth.com. 

Concurrence 1.0 (beta), Sum 1992 
#### (Ver, 1.2, $995) 

An excellent combination of an out- 
liner and a slide-based presentation 
package. Both sides are clean, easy 
to use, and fully functional. 
Lighthouse Design, 415/570-7736, 
415/570-7787 fax; info@lighthouse. 
com. 

Diagram!2, Apr/May 1993 
#### vl {Ver. 2.1, $499) 

A substantial upgrade to the popu- 
lar "digital whiteboard" that incor- 
porates arbitrary text and graphic rota- 



tion and a revamped user interface. 
Although almost too unstructured, 
still a big winner. Highly recom- 
mended. 

Lighthouse Design, 415/570-7736, 
415/570-7787 fax; info@lighthouse. 
com. 

Dots 3.4.1, Nov 1993 

###! (Ver. 3.42, $149-$1500| 

Dots lets you print from any NEXT- 
STEP computer to a wide variety of 
non PostScript printers using NEXT- 
STEP'S Display PostScript interpre- 
ter. Unless you print through the 
SCSI port, speed could be a problem. 
J 'ART Computersysteme GmbH, 49/ 
40/38.02.30, 49/40/38.02.32.90 fax-; 
software@dart.de. Alembic Systems, 
303/799-6223, 303/799-1435 fax; 
info@alembic.com. 

DragBook 1.0, Nov 1993 
##«M(Co§aggi Palette 1.0, $199) 

Nifty workspace extender that is 
not as good as Engage, but has a 
more familiar interface. 
GSCorp, 415/257-4700, 415/454- 
8106 fax; info@goldleaf.com. 

eXTRASET 1.1 with Goldleaf 

Imagesetters, Sep 1993 

$ $ $ $ ($19,000-337,000) 

High-resolution imagesetting made 
nearly as easy as printing to a laser 
printer. eXTRASET is a host-based 
RIP and an interface to the Goldleaf 
Imagesetters and other RIP's based on 
linotype-Hell's Ultrex imagesetters. 
GS Corporation, 415/2574700, 4151 
257-4707 fax; joe@goldleaf.com. 

Fonts For Design - Art Deco Collection, 
Jun/Jui 1993 
$ $ ($87| 

Set of 62 display faces meant for 
headlines and design. Some lack 
kern pairs. 
Keystrokes, 802/525-8837. 

Graphhy 1.0, Feb 1994 
# M # ($395) 

The graphing app of choice for the 
NEXTSTEP power user. Allows 
users to turn graph documents into 
sophisticated multimedia presenta- 
tions. Harnesses the power of Ren- 
derMan to create textured, illumi- 
nated, and shaded 3-D graphs. 
Xanthus International, 46/8/635- 
3060, 46/8/98.70.67 fax; graphty® 
xanthus.se. Alembic Systems 303/ 
799-6223, 303/799-1435 fax; info® 
alembic.com. 



22 Wmm MARCH 1994 



SIM SON 00002 102 



FEATURE 



GraphRight 1.1, Feb 1994 
$ $ V vl ($399J 

This graphing app from an experi- 
enced data-visualization firm shows 
great promise for scientific and engi- 
neering uses and as a graphing mod- 
ule for custom apps. Needs a bit more 
polish in general. 

Watershed Technologies, 508/460- 
9612, 508/481-3955 fax; graphright 
@watershed.com. 

HERE'S Color 1.002, Feb 1993 
M# (Ver. 1.02 $895) 

HERE's Color makes color manage- 
ment easy, flexible, powerful, and 
expensive. The only color-manage- 
ment system that lets end users cre- 
ate color-rendering dictionaries. 
HERE, 513/792-0442, 513/792-0458 
fax; here@here.com. 

KJWgallery, Jun/Jul 1993 
% % % ($99) 

An icon manager and color-icon col- 
lection with many powerful features. 
Trident Data Systems, 310/338-3594; 
icons@tds.com. 

Econfl/laker, Sep 1993 
$ $ # $ ($150} 

The first real icon editor for NEXT- 
STEP applies intelligent assistance 
to the art of icon editing. 
BlueSky Software, 818/988-5378, 
818/9894928 fax; eromke@cerf.net. 

Image Agent 1.1c, Aug 1993 
MM IVer. 1.2c, $99) 

Background image conversion that 

works smoothly with any NEXT- 
STEP app that supports filter services. 
Bacchus, 310/820-9145, 310/820- 
5930 fax; info@hacchus.com. 

iitturtra 1.0, Jan 1994 
MM\1(Ver.LZ$350.$695) 

The best interface yet on a NEXT- 
STEP 3-D program helps make a 
complex world accessible to low- and 
mid-range users, while still provid- 
ing plenty of power at the high end. 
Intuitive Technologies, 33/1/47.08. 
74.40; info@cubx.com. Alembic Sys- 
tems, 303/799-6223, 303/799-1435 
fax; info@alembic.com. 

Laser TechFonts, Jan 1994 
MM (Ver. 3.1, $139) 

High-quality typeface collection specif- 
ically designed for engineering and 
scientific use. 

Nisus Software, 619/481-1477, 619/ 
481-6154 fax; nisus@weber.ucsd.edu. 



Pastellp 2.1, Dec 1993 
# # # i ($495) 

PasteUp combines the precision of 
Quark and the ease of PageMaker 
with lots of thoughtful touches cour- 
tesy of NEXTSTEP. Version 2.1 is 
ready for prime time, despite occa- 
sional idiosyncrasies. 
Anderson Financial Systems, 215/ 
653-0911, 215/653-0711 fax; info@ 
afs.com. 

Pixel Magician, Sum 1992 
MM [Ver. 1.4c, $99) 

A must-have universal graphics-for- 
mat converter for desktop publish- 
ing and graphics work of all sorts. 
Quick, intuitive, and effective, the 
only thing missing is support for JPEG. 
Bacchus, 310/820-9145, 310/820- 
5930 fax-; mfo@haccbus.com. 

I soIidThinking MODELER 1.2, 
Jan 1994 
M<M (Ver. 1.3, $1260) 

This update to the powerful 3-D 
modeler adds Intel support, new 
features like motion blur, and the 
ability to import a wider variety of 
file formats, including Wavefront, 
DXF, and OpenCAD files. Still suf- 
fers from an awkward interface. 
Gestel Italia, 39/444-964974, 39/ 
444-964984 fax; info@solid.gestel.it. 
Alembic Systems, 303/799-6223, 303/ 
799-1435 fax; info@alembic.com. 

Tailor 1.0c, Feb 1994 

# # # # I ($495) 

Tailor allows full manipulation and 
editing of PostScript files. It is an 
exceptional program with function- 
ality unknown on any platform. 
Highly recommended. 
First Class NV, 32/9/227-6248, 32/ 
9/227-1589 fax; peter@firstclass.be. 
Alembic Systems, 303/799-6223, 303/ 
799-1435 fax; info@alembk.com. 

TlFFanyl!, Nov 1993 

# # $ si ($695) 

A mid-range image-editing applica- 
tion that works well with large image 
files. Extensive image-manipulation 
tools, including morphing and some- 
animation tools. Has an API. 
benchMark Development, 606/255- 
3864, 606/254-4864 fax; info@ 
bmd.com. 

Mrthon ViewFont, FontGase, MacToPfe; 
Sep 1993 

# # % \1 (ViewFont 1.1, FontCase 
1.0, MacToPFA 1.4, $69) 

A trio of utilities that bring integrated 
font management, viewing, and con- 



version capabilities to NEXTSTEP 
Trilithon Software, 415/325-0767, 
415/325-0768 fax; info@trilithom 
com. 

i Virtuoso 1.0, Apr/May 1993 
$ % $ $ 6 (Ver. 2.0 out in Mar, 
$695) 

A superb illustration program with 
many innovative features. Sporting 
superior layout and text-formatting 
capabilities than its competitor, Illus- 
trator, it lacks only graphing tools. 
Altsys Corporation, 214/680-2060, 
214/680-0593 fax; virtuoso Jnfo@ 
altsys.com, 

WetPaint 1.2, Nov 1993 
$ # $ i ($49) 

An easy-to-use image-editing appli- 
cation that should appeal especially 
to beginners but is suitable for many 
uses. Includes a large selection of 
filters and special effects. Has a pro- 
grammer's API. 

Lighthouse Design, 415/570-7736, 
4151570-7787 fax; info@lighthouse. 
com. 

WSI-Fonts Professional Volume #1, 
Jun/Jul 1993 

* # # ($99) 

Basic set of 120+ typefaces. Good 
quality but not up to Adobe stan- 
dards. 

Abstract. Software, 206/361-5080, 
203/363-8271 fax; info@abstract- 
soft.com. 

ZZVofume 1.4, Aug 1993 

# % i ($1695) 

A conceptual architectural design 
package sporting an unusual user- 
interface paradigm that, once learned, 
works with power and flexibility. 
Alone on NEXTSTEP but is not up 
to standards of other platforms. 
Ares, 33/72/73.06.54, 33/72/73.22. 
93 fax; gery@ares.fdn.org. Alembic 
Systems, 303/799-6223, 303/799- 
1435 fax; info@alembic.com. 

1 VISION 1.60 J, Oct 1993 
\<M (Ver. 1.80, $30 -$3250) 

1 VISIONS's intriguing concept of 
an extensible publishing environment 
is buried under a confusing user inter- 
face and buggy implementation. Wait 
for Version 2. 

tms International, 31/2155/25792, 
31/2155/25792 fax; info@tms.nl. 
German 49/941/700.344, 49/941/ 
700.516 fax; admm@tms-gmbh.de. 



3D Reality 1.2 Jun/Jul 1993 
M6 (Ver. 1.4, $495) 

A high-end set of 3-D modules with 
a great depth of features and good 
user interface. Advanced features re- 
sult in a steep learning curve. 
Stone Design, 505/345-4800, 505/ 
345-3424 fax; info@stone.com. 

Tools and Languages 

& CraftMan (beta), Fall 1992 
M# (Ver. 2.0, $995) 

Solid authoring system, roughly com- 
parable to Macintosh HyperCard, 
that brings programming tools into 
the hands of mere mortals. Needs to 
improve on returning objects' names 
while scripting, object-class distinc- 
tions, and graphics handling. 
Xanthus International AB, 46/8/635. 
30.60, 46/8/98.70.67 fax; craftman® 
xanthus.se. 

HyperSense (beta), Aug 1993 

# # # (Ver.prbo9,$299) 

An easy-to-use HyperCard look- 
alike with an accessible scripting 
language and the capability to con- 
vert many HyperCard stacks. Im- 
porting stacks is a hit-or-miss propo- 
sition in this first release. Lacks 
support for video, path-based ani- 
mation, and MIDI. 
Thoughtful Software, 303/2214596, 
303/221-0841 fax; info@thought- 
ful.com. 

SuperDebugger3.6, Dec 1993 
M«M (Ver. 3.71, $99] 

Graphical front end for the GNU 

degugger. Useful despite cluttered 

interface. 

Impact Software Publishing, 718/ 

472-0600, 718/472-0160 fax; info@ 

mipact.com. 

Peripherals 

fcegami Monitor CT20D, Nov 1993 

# # % # I ($2695) 

Unbeaten overall monitor quality 
from a company with a high repu- 
tation in broadcast and film. 
Ikegami, 310/534-0050, 310/329- 
9582 fax. 

La$1Lock,Fefe/Marl993 

# # # # ($195) 

The only solution for solidly secur- 
ing a cube to a desktop. Quality and 
attention to detail are evident in this 
homegrown product. 
Prevail, 408/629-3972. 



Page 28 



MARCH 1994 Mm 23 



SIM SON 00002 103 






EWELQPER CAMP 




have a confession to make. 

Over the past two months, I've been using a 20MHz Intel- 
based '386 computer running Microsoft Windows 3.1. I've used 
Microsoft Word, Microsoft Access, Frame Technology's Frame- 
Maker (both Version 3 and Version 4), and Quicken for Windows. I've used 
America Online's Windows interface. I've also played a boatload of games. 

And I've come to one conclusion: NEXTSTEP developers have some 
catching up to do. 

Take Microsoft Access - certainly not the best database available for Win- 
dows, but certainly destined to be an industry leader, thanks to the Micro- 
soft moniker. 

After spending an afternoon at the key- 
board with Access, it became clear that it's a 
pretty good relational database. Access gives 
you graphical tools for building a database; 
and lets you design forms to enter, look up, 
and update data; build macros; make reports; 
and even control access to the data on a user- 
by-user or group-by-group basis. It provides 
single-user access on a single machine, or mul- 
tiuser access over a network. Automatically. 



Windows 
Watching 



If all you want to do is build a flat-file database, Access and Stone 
Design's DataPhile are comparable products. DataPhile's big advantage is 
simplicity. With DataPhile, for example, if you want to put a number in a 
record, you tell DataPhile you want a number With Access, you have to decide 
if you are going to be storing a byte, an integer, a long, or a float. 

On the other hand, Access has zillions of features. Take forms design. Build 
a form with Access, and a Forms Wizard lets you build a form that is Single 
Column or Tabular, a Graph, or a Main Form with attached Subform. You 
then get to specify whether you want your fields to be With Access, and if 
the cells on a form should be standard, chiseled, shadowed, boxed, or em- 



bossed. With DataPhile, all you can do is chose one of three borders. 

But Access doesn't do a very good job building those complex fields. 
If you aren't careful moving a shadowed field, for example, you'll find the 
shadow staying behind. That would never happen if shadowed fields were 
implemented under DataPhile, because the shadow would be drawn by the 
same Objective-C object that drew the rest of the cell. Indeed, it would be 
relatively easy for Stone Design to implement shadowed cells and a whole 
bunch of other Access features - and to do them all right. 

It would be easy, but it first has to be done. Until then, shadowed text 
fields is just another feature that Access has and DataPhile doesn't. 

These are the feelings I get from most of 
the Windows programs that I've tried. They're 
not as neat or clean as their NEXTSTEP 
counterparts, but they've usually got many 
more features and get the job done. They are 
also way cheaper. 

Compounding the problem, many NEXT- 
STEP developers are not even aware of these 
disparities. I called up Andrew Stone and 
asked him if he had played with Access. He 
said he didn't have a copy. In fact, he was 



somewhat surprised that I would sink so low as to actually purchase a '386 
box for running Microsoft Windows. 

This kind of snobbery is endemic in the NeXT developer community. It's 
also suicidal. There are a lot of bright, creative people out there writing soft- 
ware for Windows. Some of them have good ideas. It's worthwhile to check 
them out. 

After all, Windows apps are the competition. $ 



S I M s o N L . Garfinkel/s the senior contributing editor to 
NeXTWORLD. 



Alembic Syste 
We service the customers who/ 

We call it "customer focused" service, but it is more than that. It's the first enterprise- wide software and hardware company 
dedicated to providing complete computer solutions— based exclusively around NEXTSTEP. It's one place for you to call and reach a frc 
staff of trained, caring people who will answer your questions, listen to your comments and support yout needs with years of experience I 



in NEXTSTEP. 

Software from The U.S., France, Australia, Germany, 
China, Italy, Sweden, and all points in between can be found 
at Alembic. One of our primary goals is to offer the NEXTSTEP 
user a place to find a rich variety of software (If you don't see 
something you're holdngfor, call, we probably have it or can find it for 
you.) from some of the best software developers in the world. 
We invite you to sample demonstration versions of 
our software— individually, or pre-installed on one 
of the Alembic hardware systems. Turn on the machine 
and they're ready to go. Alembic strives to place the 
right software, suited to your specifications, on every 
system that you purchase. IIEYTCf ED 



i 



ifui 




PLEASE CALL FOR A FULL LISTING OF 
SOFTWARE AND HARWARE CONFIGURATIONS AVAILABLE. 



Objtci Oriented Software 



Software 

(ASI offers the largest selection of NEXTSTEP 
software in North America and Europe.) 

Agent AquaNet Assistant Assistant Plus Bar-a-Coda BarCodeBox BarCodeipr 
Black Box Celebro CHaRTSMITH CHINA Aware Compose In Color Concurrent;, 

2 Connect It! Craftman Create CubX-Window RunTime DataPhile DBInsped" 
Diagram! 2 direct ADots Electro Engage! Desktop EquationBuilder Forms 

Palette FrequentPhrases FrontDesk FTI/DOE FTI/SWMM Graphity Image j 
Agent Image Mate intuitiv'3d Engine i56 w/DSP & Sound Board 
Keyboard Server LaserMan ManualBuilder Mathematica Mesa' 
MetroForms MetroKeys MetroTools mix Netlnfo NetWatch reel 
NoteBook Pages Pixel Magician Questor Retina ScanTastic 
ScreenCast Screen Machine II SerialPortKit SerialPortServer 
SimonSays Simulation Kit SNMP SoftPC solidThinking Models' 
solidThinking Animator SplitBuilder Squash Sunrise Tailor Tasklfe 
TextArt tice Typing Czar VarioData VarioData Pro VirtSpace 
Virtuoso Wand-a-Bar WetPaint Wonderful Mosaic ZZVolume £ 
Reality and more e 




SIM SON 00002 104 



next ink 



Eich parents who pay tuition to ten different private schools don't 
solve the problem of where to send Junior to kindergarten. Buy- 
ing vacation packages to both the Caribbean and Hawaii over 
New Year's leaves you with one too many options. 

Hewlett-Packard just bought a piece of Taligent, guaranteeing yet another 
option but little guidance for its customers. On the surface, the buy makes 
sense. Given the disproportionately huge revenues that come from hardware 
sales, it is a small price to pay to place a bet on every possible operating- 
system combination to make sure that the winning combination in the UNIX 
lottery is on one of its tickets. 

Further, this move gives HP compatibil- 
ity with IBM customers, providing HP reps 
with direct access to competition for future 
equipment upgrades of several large OS/2 cus- 
tomers, according to industry observers. 

Large customers tend to make their own 
technology decisions anyway, so why shouldn't 
HP be the WalMart of computing? 

The danger is that HP will fail to capitalize 
on each of the technological advantages of its 
options. Operating systems need integration into 
complete customer strategies. Sun, for example, 

is serious about NEXTSTEP. It is committing a raft of resources to this option 
and sending clear messages to customers about its vision for the future. 

HP is also serious about serving customers, but perhaps it underesti- 
mates the trouble required to integrate each of these options into complete 
software solutions. Most puzzling is HP's technology vision, which shows 
Taligent as an object layer underneath CDE. This organization puts a clunky 
procedural front end on Taligent objects. 

HP should present one procedural and one object strategy. The procedu- 
ral strategy can remain as it was before Taligent, with some support and 



Chinese 
Menu 



D AN L A VI N 



interconnection to the object side of things. 

Meanwhile, HP should use its expensive influence at Taligent to make 
certain that Taligent objects intemperate completely with NEXTSTEP and 
all other CORBA-compliant objects. Then, when Taligent finally ships its 
development tools (or whatever product it's going to ship), its product can be 
complementary to NEXTSTEP. Sure, HP will offer its customers a panoply 
of options, but at least those options will all work together within different 
portions of enterprises that might use different systems. 

HP's low-end workstations are now commodity priced, but it must 

maintain its edge in high-end machines. A 
combination of object-oriented tools, such as 
PDO, combined with a coherent strategy 
linking together the various UNIX options, 
just might do the trick. 

NeXT, for its part, must nurture this im- 
portant relationship. HP's stiff reply to the 
Sun announcement would suggest that HP 
and NeXT had differing impressions of the 
"full briefing" that NeXT claimed it provided 
HP in advance of the announcement. 

Both the Sun and HP relationships are 
treasures to be managed independently, not 
played off against one another. NeXT must realize it doesn't have the whip 
hand. NEXTSTEP is strategic, but both companies could walk away from 
the NeXT deal and not feel any serious, damaging effects for several years. 
Naturally, there are political considerations operating here. But all the 
companies involved need to keep in mind that the best way to succeed is to 
serve the customer. Serving up a series of conflicting and confusing messages 
is hardly the way to achieve that. $ 

Dan L A V I N comments on business issues in NeXT Ink. 




ternational Ltd. 

e already made the a choice 



Hardware combinations are numerous and readily available at Alembic. 
. the beginner to the most advanced, ALL system options are running NEXTSTEP 
2 from the time you turn on the computer — unless you prefer otherwise. Alembic 
Irs a number of service and support options and a 1-year warranty on every 
(stem. We can even custom configure systems for those with extra-demanding 
Iste. 

For a complete listing of all the products Alembic represents, call 1.800.452.7608. 
<§ie of our representatives will take care of any questions you may have about 
lent specials, hardware configurations, upcoming events, and of course, NEXTSTEP. 





la 



Alembic Systems International Ltd. 

1 .800.452.7608 Circle 27 on reader service card 




14 Inverness Dr. East G-228 
EndewoodCO80ll2 

(303)799.6223 

(303)799.1709 fax 

8004527608 

info@alembic.com 



Mite Meadows House 

Pamich, Derbyshire 

DE6 IQX, Engknd 

+071.351.9980 

+071351.3117 fax 

info-europe@atembic.com 



Hardware 

(NEXTSTEP 3.2 Pre-installed) 
Intel 486 DX2/66 Processor • 256KB Write-Back Cache • 2 VESA 
Local Bus Slots < 6 EISA Slots • Up to 128 MB of RAM • 250, 
340, 540, or 1.2 GB Hard Drives • ATI Graphics Ultra Pro Video 
Card w/ 2 MB VRAM (1120X832@16-bit w/ rev. 6 card) • 17" 
High Resolution Color Monitor ■ Adaptec 1542C SCSI Card • 3 
1/2" Floppy Drive • 2 Serial, 1 Parallel Port • 101 Keyboard and 
• Logitech Bus Mouse 



SIMSON00002105 



REVIEWS 



Focus on the Forest 

Application backlog in the CFO's office? 
WhiteLight/Engineer cuts it down to size 



Whitelight/Engiiieer 1.1 




by D a N Ruby 

f NEXTSTEP is all 
about applying objects 
to enterprise solutions, 
then Whitelight/Engi- 
neer may be the ulti- 
mate NEXTSTEP application. While 
other financial-analysis tools are de- 
signed to focus on details at the local 
level, WhiteLight rolls up all of the 
individual pieces into a network of 
relationships that model the entire 
enterprise. 

WhiteLight/Engineer is a spread- 
sheet, a database, a knowledge en- 
gine, an object-oriented development 
environment, and a set of APIs - all 
in one application wrapper. The results 
can be tremendous for many orga- 
nizations, but an overly complex in- 
terface detracts from an otherwise- 
impressive program. In addition, the 
program requires a large investment 
in building models, probably mak- 
ing it more useful to groups within 
organizations, as opposed to indi- 
vidual analysts. 

WhiteLight's great benefit is its 
versatility in rapid development of 
custom financial applications. Typi- 
cal uses might be an operational pro- 
cess like a year-end consolidation, a 



forecast like a five-year strategic plan, 
or an ad hoc analysis of a possible 
merger or acquisition. Building White- 
Light models helps the financial 
analyst understand relationships that 
are too complex or dynamic for 
other tools. 

WhiteLight is more akin to main- 
frame modeling environments and 
fourth-generation languages than it 
is to personal computer-based spread- 
sheets. In a traditional spreadsheet, 
the data and the model are mixed into 
one grid. The user spends a lot of un- 
productive time finding and verify- 
ing data, futzing with formulas, and 
customizing reports. In WhiteLight, 
the model and the data are separate. 
A report or graph is just a view into 
the model. The same information 
can be displayed in an unlimited num- 
ber of ways without creating redun- 
dancies. 

Types of users 

Unlike a spreadsheet, which can be 
applied productively by an individ- 
ual user, WhiteLight is designed as 
an enterprise-modeling tool Accord- 
ing to WhiteLight Systems, it can 
be applied as a "top-down, bottom- 



sawn ii.„,"« ■ m# jjjjfijifrj jg 




$ 4 

This fopkisiicaii'd 
hits the piswif ,'C; i 
enterpmeu 





Unlike a spreadsheet, WhiteLight grids and graphs are views into the model, not the model 
itself. Result: Data is more easily verified and the model more easily audited. 



up, or middle-out" solution. 

Once adopted by an organiza- 
tion, it is useful at many different 
levels. Systems architects and devel- 
opers design and build the model. 
Financial analysts and business man- 
agers maintain and extend it. Com- 
pany executives use it for informa- 
tion retrieval and decision support. 

WhiteLight/Engineer is available 
in a developer version for $9995 or 
a user version for $995. While this 
represents a heavy outlay for buyers, 
the cost is insignificant compared 
with the benefits that come from a 
better understanding of your busi- 
ness and improved decision making. 

I reviewed the product from the 
standpoint of a departmental man- 
ager using a model that was designed 
and developed by a professional 
financial analyst. I worked in depth 
with two models - the WhiteLight 
Foods demonstration model that the 
company ships with the software 
and a prototype model for NeXT- 
WORLD that was built by a White- 
Light analyst. This process gave me 
a sense of the depth and sophistica- 
tion that is possible in a finished app- 
lication, as well as the process for 
developing a new model. 

The results were impressive. The 
Foods example models a multina- 
tional conglomerate and provides 
dozens of specific applications and 
reports, including an income state- 
ment, balance sheet, ratio analysis, 
financing plan, currency adjust- 
ments, and much more. 

The first iteration of the NeXT- 
WORLD system - built in half a 
day using our existing spreadsheet 
model - is a solid foundation, though 
it is very far from being a produc- 
tion system. Several more iterations 
by the model developer would be 



needed before we could actually put 
it into use. 

Contexts and elements 

A WhiteLight model is made up of 
numerous contexts, or ways of look- 
ing at the enterprise, and elements 
within the contexts. For example, the 
Foods model uses six contexts - fi- 
nancial, enterprise, product, time, 
currency, and plan - containing a 
total of 264 elements. 

Each element of the model is an 
object. It might be a financial value 
like Gross Margin, a time value like 
Third Quarter, an organizational 
value like Europe, or any other unit 
that helps to describe the business. 
Elements are defined in terms of 
other elements using a comprehen- 
sive set of mathematical functions, 
formulas, and constants. 

To begin building a model, you 
work in a element browser to define 
the contexts and elements. Once 
named, an element editor allows you 
to write the formulas that relate ele- 
ments to each other. An element 
navigator provides a graphical view 
of the relationships, so you can 
quickly point and click your way 
through the network of relationships. 
There is also an element finder that 
quickly locates each instance of an 
element or a group of elements. 

Once the elements are defined, 
you begin to populate the model 
with data by creating gnds and graphs. 
These will look familiar to spread- 
sheet users. Grids are built by drag- 
ging and dropping element names 
into a multidimensional grid. Since 
you can always expand or contract 
elements and their components, the 
grids can be displayed in as much 
or as little detail as you want. You 
simply click 1994, for example, to 
display a quarterly view. Click again 
to see each month. 

Depending on the complexity of 
your grid, the model can contain an 
astronomical number of data values. 
These are populated either by user 
mput or a lookup to a database, or 
are computed from other values. (It 
is easy to create data-entry grids that 
highlight the cells to be entered.) In 
many cases, a particular value will 
not be of interest. For example, the 
six-dimensional Foods model con- 
tains 570 million possible values, but 
only 6500 are actually used. 
In addition to grids, WhiteLight 



26 I! 



MARCH 1994 



SIM SON 00002 106 



REVIEWS 



f 1 




WhiteLight provides a profusion of useful tools and views but offers little help in managing the 
screen real estate. Each panel has its own array of interface controls. 



also generates graphical views of data. 
The program includes a selection of 
bar-, pie-, and line-graph types. White- 
light's API also allows users to link 
models to more specialized charting 
programs or their own custom apps. 

Interface excess 

Unfortunately, WhiteLight does so 



much that it doesn't know when to 
stop. Its interface is such a profu- 
sion of pop-up lists, wells, buttons, 
and sliders that the mind positively 
boggles. Using it, you immediately 
find that you have more than a dozen 
inspectors, finders, explorers, navi- 
gators, and browsers open, each 
one festooned with confusing inter- 



face controls. 

Several of the dozen or more 
tools are cleverly designed, and all 
of them are needed, but there is not 
enough hierarchy in the organization 
of the tools. The user needs more of 
a helping hand in determining which 
tools and views are the most impor- 
tant. 

WhiteLight acknowledges that 
the interface needs work, though 
Version 2.0, due this spring with im- 
portant enhancements in other areas, 
does not substantially change the 
interface design. A later 2.1 release 
is scheduled to include interface 
improvements. 

Any product as complex as 
WhiteLight is going to need substan- 
tial training tools and support ser- 
vices. One of the product's strengths 
is its excellent documentation, tuto- 
rials, and examples. WhiteLight Sys- 
tems also offers extensive options 
for user training and development 
support. 

Two other strengths are its per- 
formance and robustness. It ran 
effortlessly and without bugs on both 
my slab and an Epson GX. 

In sum, WhiteLight/Engineer is 



an outstanding, though imperfect, 
product. There's no doubt that this 
is the kind of product that will bung 
new users - corporate financial offi- 
cers - to NEXTSTEP. Many exist- 
ing NEXTSTEP sites - both large 
corporations and small start-ups - 
will also find it tremendously valu- 
able. 

Unless it has been adopted as a 
standard in their company, however, 
nonfinancial specialists will proba- 
bly find that WhiteLight is more 
tool than they need for ad hoc busi- 
ness modeling. Still, even if Mesa is 
all you'll ever want for looking at 
the trees, you should still take a look 
at WhiteLight/Engineer to see what's 
possible when you use NEXTSTEP 
to look at the financial forest. $ 



Dan Ruby is NeXTWORLLTs 
editor in chief. 



A China Hand for NEXTSTEP 




or NEXTSTEP users 
needing Chinese-charac- 
ter or language support 
for desktop publishing 
or general productivity, 
Jie-Fu Corporation has introduced 
CHINAware. Unlike NEXTSTEP 
3.1J's Kanji support, however, CHI- 
NAware does not replace the entire 
operating system with a localized 
version. 

CHINAware lets you enter Chi- 
nese characters using several meth- 
ods, including Cangjie, both ETEN 
and Daqian phonetic symbols, Sim- 
ple, Internal Code, and Telegraph 
Code. A special CInput application 
will process the characters as you 
type them in your preferred input 
method, and the characters can then 
be dropped into standard NEXT- 
STEP applications for publishing, 
e-mailing, and so forth. A separate 
application, CEdit, is like a Chinese- 
sawy version of the standard Edit 
application and is the easiest way to 
edit Chinese characters on-screen. 



CSearch, a third application, is nec- 
essary to do text searches on Chinese 
characters. A Chinese VT100 termi- 
nal emulator is also included. 

The package comes with the 
applications on diskettes and the five 
PostScript typefaces on CD-ROM, 
along with a very helpful Longman 
Chinese-English dictionary if you 
purchase the program for use in 
Taiwan. (Longman and Jie-Fu are 



CHINAware 1.3 



$ $ % 



A good, well-designed Chinese-language 
syst&n that site on top of standard NEXT- 
STEP and allows Chinese-character input. 
Includes PostScript fonts and several 
bandy utilities bid supports traditional 
characters only. (Support for simplified 
characters is coming.) 

$995; $795 temporary promotional price; 
$395 student version 

Jie-¥u Corporation, 1QF-1, No. 107, Sec 
2, Roosevelt Rd„ Taipei. Taiwan, R.O.C. 
SS6/2B69-512L 886/2B69-SU0 fax; 
tchuang@cube.epMCtu.edu.ite. 



still negotiating for external-distri- 
bution rights.) 

Jie-Fu has also increased CHTNxA- 
ware's usefulness to custom-appli- 
cation developers by adding an API, 
which lets other apps use the soft- 
ware's Chinese input engine. Several 
tools and resources are provided for 
application development under 
CHINAware as well. 

The program works well if you're 
familiar with Chinese-language input 
systems, but it's not useful if you're 
just trying to learn Chinese. It also 
doesn't support my favorite input 
method, pinyin phonetic (which is 
supported under the Chinese ver- 
sion of Macintosh System 7.1). But 
in all fairness, that isn't an accepted 
professional method. A more seri- 
ous omission is the lack of support 
for simplified characters, but the 
company promises to include that in 
a future release. The only other 
NEXTSTEP Chinese language 
options require X Windows and are 
not commercially supported. Be aware 
that diis program is not designed to 
be usable by anyone on a network, 
because of its hardware dongle pro- 



tection system. 

At $995, CHINAware costs 
three times the price of the Chinese 
Language Kit for the Apple Macin- 
tosh but supplies much more func- 
tionality with the bundled applications, 
superior font offerings, and API. Jie- 
Fu also sells 30 additional Chinese 
PostScript typefaces. Another com- 
pany, Jackson, of Hsin Chu, Taiwan, 
has a library of 33 Chinese Post- 
Script typefaces - one of which they 
recently released under the general 
public license of the Free Software 
Foundation as a sendee to the NEXT- 
STEP community. Overall, CHINA- 
ware is a welcome addition to the 
globalization of NEXTSTEP. $ 

Rick Reynolds worked 
for Time magazine in Beijing before 
joining the NEXTSTEP community 
as a NeXTWORLD contributing 
editor. 









SIMSON00002107 






FEATURE 



Clean. 
Comfortable. 
Compatible. 



* ? » * 



Everything 
you need in 
a word 



WriteUp 



processor. 



Mffita *[»f^.-A 



Clean. The first thing you'll 
notice about WriteUp is its 
elegant design. Start typing 
and you'll see that everything is 
exactly where you'd expect it to 
be — including headers and 
footers. That's because 
WriteUp is the first word 
processor designed f or 
NEXTSTEP from the ground up 
by seasoned NEXTSTEP 
developers. You'll notice the 
difference right away, espe- 
cially if you've been struggling 
with software that was really 
designed for other environ- 
ments. And over time, you'll 
appreciate how WriteUp's clean 
design translates into trouble- 
free operation. 

Comfortable. WriteUp is 
writer-friendly. Whether you're 
a confirmed NEXTSTEPer or a 
recent convert, you'll feel right 
at home with WriteUp's full set 



of cursor and function keys, 
keyboard able text selection, 
and drag-and-drop color and 
graphics. WriteUp lets you 
focus on your thoughts, not the 
process of getting them down 
on paper. 

Compatible. The world 

doesn't need yet another 
document format, so WriteUp 
doesn't lock you into one. 
Instead, WriteUp supports 
existing document standards as 
part of its normal operations. 
Throughout the year, we'll be 
releasing DIBs— filters that will 
allow you to read and write 
documents— for most major file 
formats, including WordPerfect 
and Microsoft Word. 

WriteUp. Everything you need 
in a word processor. For under 

$200. To order your copy, call 
215-653-0911 today, or send 
Email to WriteUp@afs.com. 



A 



909 Sumneytown Pike • Suite 207 • Springhouse, PA 19477 
Phone: 215 653 0911 • FAX: 215 653 0711 • Email: Info@afs.com 

©Copyright 1994, Andersen Financial Systems, inc. All Rights Reserved. WriteUp, the WriteUp logo,. Paslelp, tr,e Pistelp logo, and the 

APS logo aresii trademarks of Anderson Financial Systems NBQ5HP is a rojissred trademark or IWQ Con».:>:r. int. U'rJ Perieci is 

i registered trademark of WordPerfect Corporation Miansoft « a refsteJ radeaak of Microsoft Corporation. 



Circle 7 on reader service card 



« Dock Soup 

Microsoft Mouse, Jan 1994 

% $ $ % % [Bus Mouse, $125] 

This new mouse design is terrific 
and recommended. Strong on con- 
trol and ergonomics. 
Microsoft Corporation, 206/882- 
8080, 800/426-9400, 206/936-7329 
fax. 

i NXFax 1.03b f ZyXEL U-1496 

modems, Jan 1994 

$ $ $ % NXFax 1.03b 

MMfc ZyXEL U-1496 
(NXFax 1.03, out in Mar 1.04, $135; 
ZyXEL Plus, $749; ZyXEL E, $349; 
ZyXEL EPIus, $499) 

Our favorite fax modem and fax- 
driver software. The ZyXEL modem 
is the best we've seen, and the NXFax 
software works flawlessly with it. 
Both are highly recomended. 
Black & White Software, 802/496- 
8500, 802/496-5112 fax; nxfax@ 
bandw.com. ZyXEL, 714/693-0808, 
714/693-0705 fax. 

PowerGuardian and Smart-UPS 400, 

Sep 1993 

MM (Ver. 1.41, $149) 

Helpful software with the popular 
Smart-UPS line of uninterruptible 
power supplies to protect your com- 
puter and your data. 
BenaTong, 614/276-7859, 614/276- 
7859 fax; info@BenaTong.com. 
American Power Conversion, 401/ 
789-5735, 401 H89-3710 fax. 

RollerMouse Trackball, Win 1992 
# # # ($129) 

A solid trackball with superior sen- 
sitivity and speed. Users should test 
for ergonomic comfort before buying. 
CH Products, 619/598-2518, 6191 
598-2524 fax. 

■Screen Machine II, Sep 1993 
M# vl (Ver. 1.2, $1850) 

Screen Machine II provides high- 
quality video capture and video-in- 
a-window capabilities for NEXT- 
STEP PCs, bringing back much of 
the functionality of the NeXTdimen- 
sion. For now, it is most useful for 
grabbing single frames or watching 
television on your screen. When 
NEXTIME arrives, the Screen Ma- 
chine may turn out to be the best 
way to make movies for NEXTSTEP. 
Fast Electronic; VS., 508/655-3278. 

Wacom SD-431D Digitizing Tablet and 
Pressure Sensitive Stylus, Apr/May 1993 
M«M (Ver. SD421-E, $1095) 

Cordless stylus and built-in support 
from NEXTSTEP 3.0 make this digi- 



tizing tablet a strong alternative to 

mouse input, especially for graphic 

applications. 

Wacom Technology Corporation, 

206/750-8882, 206/750-8924 fax. 

Math and Science 

CuillaMartin Calculator Set 1.0, 
Feb/Marl993 

# $ i ($79) 

Basic functionality at an affordable 
price. Lacking some originality. 
CuillaMartin, 7081223-5164.' 

EquationBuilder, Feb/Mar 1993 
MM (Ver. 3.1, $270) 

A highly intuitive solution for the 
thorny problem of typesetting math- 
ematical equations. 
Digital Tool Works, 617/7424057, 
61 7/742-4057 fax; info@dtw.com. 

Sound and Music 

Presto (beta), Win 1992 

# # # % ($295) 

Entry-level music program that com- 
bines MIDI sequencing with DSP 
synthesis. Uncluttered layout and 
inviting drag-and-drop approach to 
measure editing. 
Pinnacle Research, 602/327-8949. 

Rhythm King, Jun/Jul 1993 

MI(Vor.U$tt) 

March to your own drummer with 

this digital drum machine. Installa- 
tion can be tricky. 
Ciusa, 612/822-1604, 612/922-4426 

fax; ciusa@cup. portal.com. 

SoundBursts, Sum 1992 
M$ (Ver. 1.1, $109) 

Collections of professionally recorded 
CD-quality stereo clip sounds for use 
with all NeXT programs that sup- 
port sound. Sound quality is excellent 
Ciusa, 612/822-1604, 612/922-4426 
fax; cup.portal.com. 

SoundHouse, Apr/May 1993 

# # $ (Ver. 1.1, $69) 

This inexpensive sound recorder is 
great for simple editing but lacks the 
mixing and special effects found in 
the higher-priced products. 
Ciusa, 612/822-1604, 612/822-1604 
fax; ciusa@cup.portal.com. 

SoundWorks 3.0, Nov 1993 
MM*(Ver.3.1,$395] 

Powerful, accessible, tools for record- 
ing, editing, and mixing CD-quality 
sound. Provides real-time mixing and 
control over ATC compression. 

Metaresearcb, 503/238-5728, 5031 
230-2627 fax; info@metaresearcb. 
com. % 



MARCH 1994 




SIM SON 00002 108 



We keep the score on NEXTSTEP hardware 




With hardware 
options multi- 
plying every month, 
the task of choosing 
a PC, workstation, 
or server to run 
NEXTSTEP can over- 
whelm your technical 
staff. NeXTWORLD's 
monthly Box Scores 
cut through the 
marketing claims 
with real performance 
testing. From the 
desktop to the data 
center, NeXTWORLD 
tracks the hits, runs, 
and errors. Call 
800-685-3435 to 
subscribe now. 



IuIjM lift 




SIM SON 00002 109 



REVIEWS 



All Good Data Needs 
A Great Safety Net 

For mission-critical data, nothing beats the 
new rev of this Best of Breed backup app 




by S E T H T . Ross 

alk about mission crit- 
ical. Few computer 
operations fit that de- 
scription better than 
the consistent backup 
of key user and system files. Need 
we repeat the litany of hardware, hu- 
man, and heavenly failures that can 
wipe out your data, from cracker 
attack to power failures? If your com- 
puter data is important, you have a 
backup system in place. 

A backup system requires both 
hardware and software. The pre- 
ferred hardware for backing up the 
large file systems that are common 
at NEXTSTEP sites is either a Digi- 
tal Audio Tape (DAT) drive or an 
8mm Exabyte mechanism, both of 
which can rapidly back up gigabytes 
of data. The preferred software to 
manage the backup process in the 
NEXTSTEP environment is Safety- 
Net from Systemix Software. 

We first reviewed a prerelease 
version of SafetyNet in the Fall 1992 
issue. We gave it four cubes in beta 
and, upon review, we gave the ship- 
ping product a Best of Breed award 
in May 1993. After extensive back- 
up sessions working with SafetyNet 
2.1, we are happy to report that not 




only has the application lived up to 
our original expectations, it's ex- 
ceeded them. 

Catalogs, profiles, and archives 

SafetyNet provides a simple point- 
and-click interface to the process of 
storing files on tape media. It keeps 
an on-line database, or "catalog," 
of the files you've written to tape, 
allowing you to browse tapes as eas- 
ily as hard drives. The catalog stores 
the names of backup files as well as 
vital information about their status 
and location. In SafetyNet lingo, the 
combination of off-line tape storage 
and an on-line catalog is called an 
"archive." 

SafetyNet gives you complete 
control over the scope of backups. 
You can select any combination of 
hies and directories for archiving. An 
Inspector allows you to choose files 
according to ownership (if you want 
to back up, say, Tom and Jane's files, 
but not Dick's), and by date (if you 
want only files modified since Jan- 
uary 1, 1994, or your last backup). 
Commonly used backup selections 
can be saved as backup profiles that 
can be either launched from the 
Workspace Manager or scheduled for 
automatic exe- 
cution at prede- 
fined times (such 
as every Tues- 
H day and Thurs- 
day at 5 a.m.). 
The product 
comes in two 
flavors: Safety- 
Net Profession- 
al and Safety- 
Net Personal. 
The professional 
version can back 
up any mounted 



over a network, making it the choice 
for network administrators. The per- 
sonal version can only back up locally 

mounted disks but costs considerably 
less. 

Setting up your net 

You start by creating an archive to 
keep track of the files you've backed 
up and the tapes on which they're 
backed up. The application prompts 
you to choose a name for the archive 
and a volume label for the tape. Once 
your archive is set up, you create a 
profile that determines which files 
and directories get backed up into 
it. SafetyNet presents you with a 
browser that lets you select and de- 
select the appropriate files and direc- 
tories. By default, it lists all mounted 
file systems. 

Once you select files and date, 
time, user, and group options in the 
Inspector panel, you're ready to roll. 
Choose the Backup command from 
the Tools menu, pop in your tape, 
and SafetyNet handles the rest. 

Restoring files is even easier. 
SafetyNet provides an Archive 
Browser that lists all the files and 
directories you've backed up. Select 
the files you wish to restore and use 
the Inspector panel to indicate to 
what location you want the files re- 
stored. SafetyNet prompts you to 
insert the proper tape and, seconds 
later, your files are back. 

We tested SafetyNet with an 
ArchiveST 2000 DAT drive from 
Maynard Electronics. We backed up 
over 3GB of data onto three DAT 
tapes (each one can hold nearly 1.2GB). 
It took 45 minutes to back up our 
stock 330MB hard drives. The most 
impressive thing about SafetyNet is 
how quickly it restores data. The 
app took less than one minute to 
retrieve an arbitrarily selected 256KB 
file. 



SafetyNet 2.1 



Why not use dump? 

Wizened system administrators 
know that the UNIX utilities dump fi 
and restore function much the same I 
as SafetyNet and are included free 
with NEXTSTEP'S UNIX. They also 
know that these utilities are basically 
brain-dead and have cryptic com- 
mand-line interfaces. While dump 
can do incremental backups, it only 
works with entire file systems and 
has no provision for partial backups 
of, for example, just home directo- 
ries. While restore can restore a sin- 
gle file from a backup tape, it must 
read every file on the tape that pre- 
cedes the one you need, a time-con- 
suming process. 

SafetyNet is much easier to use. 
In the time it takes to absorb the 
backup section of the NeXT system- 
administration manual, SafetyNet 
can take care of your local disks. But 
the biggest advantage of SafetyNet 
over the UNIX utilities is its speed 
and easy access to archived files, 
which are important factors when 
you're up against the panic that re- 
sults from losing critical data. 



Nearly flawless 

SaftetyNet isn't perfect. While it's 
easy to use, we'd like to see a Full 
Backup button that allows first-time 
users to skip the steps of creating 
an archive and a profile. The menu 
structure could stand some reorga- 
nization: All of the key commands 
are nested under the Tools menu. The 
ability to browse through multiple 
archives would be a welcome en- 
hancement. 

Given that any product is sub- 
ject to improvement, we recommend 
SafetyNet without reservation, par- 



ticularly for network administrators 
who are responsible for large vol- 
umes of data. The cost of the app is 
pennies on the dollar compared to 
the prospect of losing critical cor- 
porate or personal data. % 






$ $ $ $ i 



SafetyNet in the middle of a full backup. The Backup Monitor (top middle) 
provides progress reports. The Profile window [bottom) allows you to select 
files and directories. As shown in the Inspector (top right), this backup 
includes all files, regardless of ownership or modification date. 



30 MWM MARCH 1994 



UNIX file sys- 
tem, including 
those that are 
NFS mounted 



This new release n! she Best of Breed back- 
up application is 'fkxibki reliable, arid 
to use. H ciliows you to r&piaty finu 

.lies. 
Recommended u • . n . :tiori,.par- 
. : administrators, 

$399 professional version; $149 personal 
version 

Systemix Software, P.O. Box I 
Columbia, MB 21045. 41 
S00/509r0039y 410/290-03 

IflfOWS"] ' 



Seth T. Ross is the pub- 
lisher of San Francisco-based 
Albion Books and a NeXTWORLD 
contributing editor. 








SIMSON00002110 



linistrators 
utilities dump 
nuch the same 
included free 
sHX, They also 
es are basically 
cryptic corn- 
While dump 
ickups, it only 
systems and 
arty backups 
lome directo- 
i restore a sin- 
1 tape, it must 
tape that pre- 
:d, a time-con- 

i easier to use. 
} absorb the 
NeXT system- 
i\, SafetyNet 
local disks. But 
of SafetyNet 
es is its speed 
rchived files, 
factors when 
panic that re- 
:al data. 



set. While it's 
to see a Full 
lows first-time 
s of creating 
ile. The menu 
some reorga- 
•y commands 
>ols menu. The 
ugh multiple 
welcome en- 

:oduct is sub- 
ve recommend 
;rvation, par- 
idministrators 
:or large vol- 
;t of the app is 
compared to 
critical cor- 
ta. $ 



is the pub- 
ico-based 
JeXTWORLD 



FREE PROD 
INFORMATI 




SIM SON 00002 111 



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1 I 



TO CERTAIN COMPANIES, Choosing 

an object-oriented system years 
before it's available from the 
industry giants seems like a risk. 

To others, though, passing up 
a compelling competitive advantage 
presents a far more dangerous risk. 
So they use NEXTSTEP™ for Intel 9 




program functions. So there's no 
danger of breaking an application 
when all you want to do is update 
a single function. This structure 
allows you to evolve your custom 
applications to quickly exploit new 
business opportunities, since it 
lets you leverage past efforts by 



Processors —the first and oniy hEXTSTEPimsewesmrmwtwimbkmmm. reusing or modifying objects 

operating system and development environment you know to be tried and true. 

optimized for objects from top to bottom. Even before you start to build a custom 



applk 
alreat 
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It's really the soft- 
ware equivalent of the 
Industrial Revolution. 
Just as modern factories allowed products to be 
built from prefabricated component parts instead 

of being 



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) built by 
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object- 
orientation 

lets developers build complex applications by 
using prebuilt software components. The result — 
mission-critical custom applications that can be 
developed up to ten times faster. 

Every NEXTSTEP application is comprised of 
independent and easily accessible objects that 
encapsulate both the code and data for individual 




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application in NEXTSTER much of your work is manipulating real objects and not just images. You 
already finished. Because NEXTSTEP comes with can even add new objects which are automatically 

recognized by the system. NEXTSTEP 



a library of objects representing over 80% 
of the functionality that is common to 
most programs— including objects for 
text editing, printing, faxing, sound, 3D 
graphics, color selection and more. 




also comes with object kits such as the 
Database Kit,™ which lets you assemble 
data-intensive applications without 
worrying about how your database is 



Our Interface Builder 1 ' 1 gives you much ^etofofyJ^wfMum structured. Simply connect your custom 

common to most programs, 

more than mere prototyping tools. Unlike jrm printing® fmng. application to an "adapter" object (Oracle 
an ordinary "screen painter," it lets you construct and Sybase adapters are included) and it just works, 
complex enterprise applications graphically, NEXTSTEP, however is only the tip of the object 



ASTER DEVEIOPMENl 





iceberg. Because it 
offers so many rich 
opportunities for new, 
more sophisticated software, it's already spawned 
an entirely new industry: ObjectWareT 

There are now over 1,400 NEXTSTEP objects 
available from more than a hundred object vendors. 
So when you write NEXTSTEP applications, you 
have fast access to pre-written, rock-solid objects 
for an exciting world of advanced functions, from 
text-to-speech to data feed and bar codes. 

Of course, faster and better ways to develop 
don't mean much unless 




you can distribute your 

applications through- \})> provide olj/ectsanaV tools for /wilding 

advanced ' client I server applications, and 

out your company, support foroiwnve a C++ mdMm a 

So stay with us for just a few pages more. We 
promise to make this fast. 



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To build a custom client/server system, you NEXTSTEP lets you deploy the benefits of object 

would normally pick an operating system and then technology throughout your organization., it doesn't 

go scavenging for the development tools to make it make you sacrifice even one of your standards, 
work. NEXTSTEP offers a new approach. In one Built upon a solid, robust foundation of UNIX? 



shrinkwrapped box, you get one ff^^co^sNEXTSTEPMRm^ NEXTSTEP integrates the 

Packard s9000 product family, allowing you to develop u 

, i ,. and deploy custom object-oriented 

environment, including c U eiver(ippkatms 

across the entire enterprise, 

operating system, development from desktop to data center. j| 4 X, Windows. MS-DOS, IBM 




desktop completely, allowing 



tools, integrated applications, database 1 %iij§F 3270 and AS/400 applications to 
access, full networking and more. It's co-exist, sharing data and services with 

everything you need to build advanced NEXTSTEP applications. That way your legacy 

client/server systems. apps maintain their value and all your Windows, 




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About the only 
thing it doesn't 
come with is risk: 
While it raises 
development 

standards by an order of magnitude, NEXTSTEP 

runs on standard Intel 

486 and Pentium® 

machines from such 

leading names as Dell, 

Compaq, NEC, Hewlett- 
Packard, Digital, NCR 

and Epson. (It's available 




U: ■ ■"■ 



S| 1 




/// the graphical 'world 'of NEXTSTEP, a user can 

access information across standard networks without having 

to worry about the complexities of getting there. 



networking and file standards remain intact. 

NEXTSTEP Release 3.2 even comes complete 
with SoftPC from Insignia* which contains the code 
Microsoft® uses to emulate Windows applications 
on Windows NT. So, powered by a 486 or Pentium 
chip, NEXTSTEP can run shrinkwrapped Windows 
apps at near-native speed 

NEXTSTEP also gives you full 
support for TCP/IP NFS, GOSIF? 
POSIX and Novell networking 
standards, with Macintosh® and 
MS-DOS file system compatibility. 
Its greatest power, though, is 



pre-loaded on many models.) And even though the power it delivers to your company's users. 



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Because the system provides a set of objects 
common to all applications, the graphical 
interface remains simple and consistent from 




between applications, between users, 
even across networks. By tapping the 
power of PDO (Portable Distributed 



application to application. Your custom soft- nextstepsuppqus Objects), you can actually develop 

just about even standard 

ware integrates perfectly with shrinkwrapped ' hMMMmHd. objects on a NEXTSTEP client and 



NEXTSTEP productivity applications, as well as with 
all the popular DOS and Windows applications — 
including full cut-and-paste capabilities. 

So user acceptance goes up, and the need for 
costly user training goes down. 

NEXTSTEP not only offers the most advanced 



deploy them in completely different systems, so 
servers can utilize the same power. 

And while NEXTSTEP can deliver all of the 
advances of a revolutionary technology, it can also 
offer the day-to-day dependability of a tried-and- 
true system. Because that's exactly what it is. 



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EAMIESS DEPLOYMENT. 



NEXTSTEP 
computing environment, it comes complete with is polished, perfected and proven in the 
sophisticated bundled applications that can bring most demanding companies all around 
even greater productivity to the organization. the world. (A comparable system from the giants of 

the industry— or anyone else— remains 
at least two to three years away.) 

So now you've seen how NEXTSTEP 
brings dramatic gains to both development 
compatible with UNIX mail). The complete Websters® and deployment. At least you've seen it in theory. 

NEXTSTEP for Intel Processors runs on industry-standard 486- and Pentium-based machines from the 
dictionary and thesaurus Can be world's leading computer makers. It's even available pre-loaded on many models. Just ask. 

consulted at any time, from any 
application. And spell-checking 
is a system object that can be «'&*» General Compaq, D^LL #« \*m nec 

summoned by any application that requests it. If you can stay with us for one more page, we'd be 

NEXTSTEP objects, in fact, can send messages delighted to show you how it works in real life. 



mplete 
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ndows 

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latibility. 
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N eXTm a i T ' i S b U i It Objects are afar bigger idea than any one computer 

PDO can send messages across applications. 

into the System, Siving across offices or across a whole planet - 

so information can stay up to date 

all Connected USerS across the entire enterprise. ^ 

access to drag-and-drop multimedia mail (it's fully 




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A growing number of companies have seen the gains to 
be made with a complete object-oriented system of soft- 
ware. Rather than buy a vaporous promise for the future, 
they've chosen real objects now: with NEXTSTEP And 
practically overnight, they've begun to reap the benefits. 

At McCaw 

Cellular, NEXTSTEP 

was employed to 



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that will ultimately be deployed to 
about 4,000 users. 
With less code required, they 



THE OBJECT IS THE 



estimate their first application was completed in about 
one-third the time it would have taken using OSF MOTIF 
or Windows. And as they build a library of airtight objects, 
they expect future applications to take even less time. 

At Swiss Bank Corporation, one of the world's leading 
options trading companies, NEXTSTEP has helped build a 
product line of consistent and easily maintained financial 
services applications. The sheer speed of NEXTSTEP devel- 
opment allows them to enter new markets with innovative 
financial products— and stay well ahead of the competition. 

Chrysler Financial evaluated tools like Windows and 
PowerBuilder: but they chose NEXTSTEP They found that 
there was nothing comparable for application development 
or database interface. Plus, NEXTSTEP lets their users run 
custom and shrinkwrapped apps in one consistent way. 

The retail portion of their business is mission-critical, 












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so they're using NEXTSTEP software to create a system tor 
processing automobile loans and leases at 100 financial 
centers spanning North America. By first creating generic 
business and financial objects, they expect to streamline 
future projects by sub-classing these into other objects — 
all of which can easily be updated across the organization. 

PanCanadian Petroleum Limited was 90% down the 
road to standardizing on Windows with PowerBuilder in 
creating their client/server development environment 
when they discovered NEXTSTEP and made the switch. 

Within two months, they were actually farther along in 



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their project, thanks to the object- 
oriented power of NEXTSTEP 
Now they believe they have 

gained a two-to three-year lead over competitors who have 

decided to wait for object tech- 
nology from other sources. And 

they're using NEXTSTEP to 

deploy applications to 1,000 

users, delivering the necessary 

information to every professional 

practice in their business of oil 

and gas exploration. 
As you can see, NEXTSTEP 

object-oriented software is now 

paying dividends in companies 

from completely different indus- 
tries. Which proves that in the 

world of business, there is one 

can use: a competitive advantage. 




^T Iran Peturssow 

Chief information Officer 

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We've shown you how object-oriented NEXTSTEP 
is helping many companies develop and deploy custom 
applications faster and better. 

Now we invite you to get a better understanding of 
how NEXTSTEP can help streamline the most important 
company in the world: yours. 

Just call us at 1-800-TRY-NeXT, We can send you 
hardware requirement sheets, white papers or technical 
evaluations, as well as full NEXTSTEP specifications. 

A GET A COMPLETELY 
OBJECTIVE POM OF VIEW. 

We can also tell you about NEXTSTEP seminars that 
may be scheduled for your area, and give you the name 
of a nearby NEXTSTEP representative or reseller. 

Our goal is to give you the insight you need to build a 
powerful competitive advantage. And that, no doubt, is 
the most important object of all. 



1-800-TRir-NeOT 




THE OBJECT IS THE ADVANTAGE. 



it 



30 any hmu % SopK from liwgm. I 'pffo& t&fltB 6mm via phone. 



SIMSON00002118 







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□ 9} Other 

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REVIEWS 



Defying Gravity 

The Making of Newton 



Photography by Doug Menuez 
Text by Markos Kounalakis 

• ### 

$29.95 

Beyond Words Publishing, 13950 N.W. 
Pumpkin Ridge Rd., Hillsboro, OR 97124. 
5031647-5109, 800/284-9673, 503/647- 
5114 fax. 

OK, we have an ulterior motive in 
reviewing this book. This excellent 
photo documentary is the extraor- 
dinary result of special access granted 
to respected photographer Doug 
Menuez to document the behind-the- 
scenes process of producing Apple's 
Newton. Menuez was also granted 
the same special access to NeXT 
Computer in the early days and pro- 
duced, according to those who have 
seen it, an outstanding body of work 
for publication in Life. But at the last 
minute, an unnamed photo critic/ 
CEO at NeXT quashed the project. 
Seeing the Newton book only serves 
to remind us of the similar work 
that is missing from our NeXT book- 
shelf. DL 



TimeFlies 1.8 



I $ # # 

$45 

Mouthing Flowers, 152 20th Ave. #1, Seat- 
tle, WA 98122. 206/325-7870; timebugs@ 
mouthers.wa.com. 

The true test of a good alarm clock 
is this: Does it stay out of your way 
when you don't need it yet remain 
persistent enough that you don't 
ignore it when the time comes to 
remind you of something? TimeFlies 
passes both tests with insistent, pro- 
grammable reminders. Alarms are 
automatically saved between ses- 
sions, giving you no excuse to miss 
a regularly scheduled meeting. Time- 
Flies even goes one better than an 
alarm clock by letting you use any 
sound on your computer and record 
your own from within the program. 
The alarm clock is the standout, but 
TimeFlies also features a clock (it 
tells you the time in a pleasant female 
voice at each quarter hour) and a 
:-in stopwatch. LS 



Reviews Desk 

We at the Reviews Desk issue a special plea to the developers 
returning from the East Coast soiree - share code, learn from 
each other, and work together to develop small applications. 
Let's use these smaller apps as part of a campaign to demon* 
strafe how the NEXTSTEP application environment can integrate 
add-on functionality. That' s the best way to welcome new mem- 
bers to our community from the Solaris world and provide a help- 
ing hand as they figure out how to participate in the OpenStep 
future. 

Ibis month's, gang includes? A U L C u RT H Y s ( PC), Si m S N 
L. Garhxkel (SLG), Lee Sherman (LS), and 
myself, Dan Lavin (DL). 



Programming Under Mach 



by Joseph Boykin, David Kirschen, 
Alan Langerman, and Susan LoVerso 

$ % % 

$42.95 

Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 
1 Jacob Way, Reading, MA01867. 6X7/944- 
3700. 



You won't find a single mention of 
NeXT or NEXTSTEP in this new 
book on Mach, but you will find a 
lot of detail on writing multithreaded 
applications, communicating be- 
tween tasks with the Mach messag- 
ing system, virtual memory, and 
Mach exception handling. You'll 
also learn how Mach got its name. 
Some parts of this book are largely 
advertisements for OSF/1, which is 
not surprising, considering that the 
authors are affiliated with the Open 
Systems Foundation. Although the 
lack of NeXT orientation is a liabil- 
ity for this book in the NeXT com- 
munity, it nevertheless is a thorough 
discussion of Mach operating-sys- 
tem fundamentals, something which 
the NEXTSTEP community sorely 
needs. SLG 



FSPreferences 1.0 



M 

$59 

FreemanSoft, 4604 Thendara Way, Raleigh, 
NC 21612. 919/783-7033; info&reeman- 
Soft.com. 

FSPreferences provides a set of addi- 
tions to the standard Preferences 
application that allows you to set 
alarms, automatically launch appli- 
cations, associate sounds with system 
operations, and edit the defaults 
database. Although you get several 
modules, the limited functionality 



and awkwardness of their design 
make this package less valuable than 
it first appears. FSSoundPanel works 
with only a limited number of sys- 
tem events, fewer than those avail- 
able with Microsoft Windows or a 
utility such as Click Change for the 
Macintosh. A standard analog alarm 
clock has more functionality than 
FSAlarmClock, and using the FSCur- 
rentDefaults panel to edit the de- 
faults database is actually less effi- 



cient than using Edit or a UNIX 
shell. FSAutoLaunch is reminiscent 
of the utility LaunchPad but has 
even less functionality. LS 



Monitor Saver 



$ $ # 

$29 

Cypress Computer, 26120 Eden Landing 
Rd. #6, Hamad. CA 94545. 5101786- 
9106, 510/786-9553 fax. 

This nifty little piece of hardware 
provides a useful alternative to screen- 
saver software. When plugged in 
between the keyboard, the monitor, 
and the power outlet, the Monitor 
Saver actually turns the monitor off 
after a set period of inactivity at the 
keyboard and the mouse. Typing or 
mouse action turns the monitor back 
on. Monitor Saver can significantly 
reduce the energy 7 consumption of 
your monitor, but when you try to 
resume work, you have to wait a 
moment while the monitor warms 
up and flickers to life. PC 



Rosebase 

Relational Database Server for NEXTSTEP 

Features: Joins, Views, Aggregates, Subqueries, Scalar 
and date functions, Data manipulation, Multiple indicies, 
Declarative referential integrity, Query optimization. 

Data types: TINYINT, SMALLINT, INTEGER, 
DOUBLE PRECISION, REAL, FLOAT, DECIMAL, 
NUMERIC, CHAR, VARCHAR, DATE, TIME, 
TIMESTAMP, BIT, VARBIT, BYTE, VARBYTE. 

Includes: Server, ObjC client library, DBKit adaptor, 
Query tool (w/ source), Example apps (w/ source). 




Blue Rose Systems 



800-821 -ROSE 

Email: rosebase@BlueRose.com 

Phone: 41 5-949-2426 Fax: 41 5-941 -71 29 



Circle 81 on reader service card 



maucu iqcm nmminsin 11 



SIMSON00002121 



Product Showcase 



Product Showcase 

Turn here every issue for the latest-breaking, most inter- 
esting products in the NeXT™ marketplace. This is an 
exciting time for NeXT users. Development is exploding. 
The NeXTStep environment is proving to be a spawning 
ground for unique products. These ads keep you abreast 
of the best of what's out there. Showcase ads provide you 
with concise, easy-to-use information. Every one includes 
a picture, product information, and a handy reader service 
number. 
All this in 1,075 words (picture = 1,000 words + 75 text.) 



ECLIPSE: TO LEAVE OTHERS BEHIND 




Eclipse 85 0E 

Penitium 60MHz 

32mb exp. 64 

2GB SCSI-2 

32-BIT CONTROLLER 

INTERNAL CD-ROM 

#9GXE 1280X1024 

17" .28DP MONITOR 



Eclipse 735E 

Pentium 60MHz 

32mb exp, 64 

1.2GB SCSI-2 

32-BIT CONTROLLER 

INTERNAL CD-ROM 

#9GXE 1280X1024 

17".28DP MONITOR 



Eclipse 535E 

Intel 486-66MHz 

16mb exp. 32mb 

540MB HARD DRIVE 

32-BIT CONTROLLER 

INTERNAL CD-ROM 

#9GXE 1280X1024 

17" .28DP MONITOR 



Data Net/1 188 Elko Dr/Sumyvafe, CA 94089 
voice 800.695.1 599/fax 408.747.0955 



Circle 103 on reader service card 



32 UmHI MARCH 1994 



Complete Access 




Complete Access is the first object-oriented report writing application. 
Features include an intuitive graphical query builder which lets anyone 
create ad hoc queries without learning SQL, charting, and optional out- 
lining. Approximately 100 functions permit you to perform almost any 
type of calculation on your data. Use Complete Access to create not only 
your reports, but mail labels, envelopes, forms, list views, and more. 
Complete Access can be used with Rosebase, Sybase, Oracle, QuickBase, 
Interbase, or any other database for which an adaptor is available. 

Ocean Software, ln./424l Baymeadows Rd #12,/ Jacksonville, Ft 32217 
904-363-1 646/info@oceansofl.com 



Circle 102 on reader service card 



PLUG AND PLAY PERIPHERALS FOR YOUR NeXT 




Peripheral Solutions specializes in quality high performance disk, tape and CD-ROM sub- 
systems for your NeXT workstation. Each device has been qualified on the NeXTto ensure 
true plug and play reliability on black and white hardware. 

• First rare sales and technical support. 

• University and Government PO's accepted. 

• Micropolis 1 GB External Disk Subsystem, $998. 

• Exabyte 4200 DAT Subsystem, $998. 

• Come visit us at our booth at NeXTWORLD EXPO this June. 

Peripteral Solute/108 Dubois Street/Santo Cruz, CA 9S060 
(408) 457-3160 Fax: (408) 426-6792/EntoH: psijng@netcoffl.com 



Circle 104 on reader service card 




SIMSON00002122 



AXONE: Neural Networks for MESA™ 




AXONE.app is a brand new NeXTSTEP application that lets you cre- 
ate, test, and run neural networks in a flash. Axone accesses your data 
model directly on your running MESA spreadsheet. Once satisfied with 
network performance, output your network as a Mesa Addln, or as a 
C-Function. All calculations necessary during network training are per- 
formed by Axone_server, a platform independent program available 
for all NeXTSTEP platforms, as well as SUN, HP, and others. Special 
introductory Price: 495 USS. 

Xenon Technologies Corp./ 16 Rue Christophe (olomb, 75008 Paris, France 
Tel: (33} 59 24 IS 27, Fax: (33) 59 03 66 30, Email: Axone@ia5.u-strasbg.fr 



Circle 105 on reader service card 



GraphBuilder 




GraphBuilder™ is the definitive application for graphing. It delivers profes- 
sional interactive, animated, and programmable graphing for end users and 
developers. Graphs and figures are effortlessly constructed without pro- 
gramming. Combined with the WI Graph Object Library and API it is the 
most powerful, reliable, and optimized graphing front end available. 
GraphBuilder features a complete and accessible arsenal of user interface, 
programming, and data importing options. WI provides complete support 
and integration services. 

WI, lnt/311 Adams Ave./Stnte College, PA 16803/814-234-9613 
Fax:814-234-9614 



Circle 107 on reader service card 



Product Showcase 



New Product 




Catcher 



WJOSISIPM WHITEUGHT DEVELOPMENT SYSTEMS 



CrashCatcher is a non-intrusive runtime utility for Objective-C debug- 
ging. It generates comprehensive crash and non-fatal NXEception 
reports for software under development. It continues to watch for 
errors in beta-test and production software. It automatically sends a 
report to the user's console or to an e-mail address. Without 
CrashCatcher, end-users report only a few of the crashes they experi- 
ence because they often cannot reproduce or describe the specific 
events leading up to the crash. 

Whit eLight Systems, lnc/350 Cambridge Avenue, Suite 200/Polo Alto, CA 94306 
Phone: (415) 321-2183/Fax: (415) 32 1-2083/inf o@whitelight.com 



Circle 106 on reader service card 



GraphRight 




GraphRight is the most advanced, easy to use application for creating 
graphs and charts available for NeXTSTEP today. GraphRight's Object 
Oriented API can retrieve data from a variety of sources such as databases 
and stock feeds. 

Features include: •Full Distributed Object API 'Dynamic Object Linking 
•Error Bars and Linear Regression 'Intuitive Interface 'Backdrop Imaging 
•Easy to Use Table Based Data Editor »Full Rich Text Editing •Unlimited 
Undo 'Drag and Drop Everything 'Discontinuous Selection of Data. 

Watershed Technologies lnc/13 Tremont St. Suite 3F/Marlboro , MA 01 752/(508)-460-9612 
Fax (508)-481 -3955/graphright@watershed.com 



Circle 108 on reader service card 



MARCH 1994 KIKTWDRLII U 

SIMSON00002123 



Product Showcase 



A Powerful Chinese System 




i$Zi i dhL 



X.1 ' 




1, [£j fcji; hi Mi i 4 I '3| a itttja K«.t fur mi tying 

psi k fl4 G£ gBi>£s nil tha s«a Si; JS 
1, iS] is£»i a lMg*»r!«lt er S'f^c* vane it I'Sfft 

50 JRK; Jftfi; £EK< 
M&ro OSt'e saip e&M3 in hear* 

ir,rm i&m «n« kwanas eisfe (RES} 1 IH.V) flit 

s» jt miK, vessel £cs»a la; 



ship 



1. :T1[ to tayjtt Ct> b* c-stilrf fcy dbqj. U.fc.iSif : Ufa' 
j'l rivlnj ti Susriea cut xu car se C-airnj sblpji*! [t 

1 iftJl » »«rJ |«p. a Isiga acUtlsj BVfV a™* 

dijvwei ty pott m 5tS«r kws |a#?rS?fKIRi 



| $*'- 




Krtth£«war6TjrHiij. 

JCt«il*p*ai* , Gr»iJt.i-J 



sro6t»»] 



Fully NEXTSTEP compatible Chinese system with built-in 5 fonts (13051 
characters each) available, satisfying even the needs of a demanding user. 
With CHNAware you can use five different input methods that can direct- 
ly interact with English apps. The Chinese editor helps you compose even 
complicated Chinese documents in RTF and RTFD format. An IB palette 
for Chinese textobjects and API are included to make Chinese transparent 
to the developer. CHINAware also includes Chinese terminal and search 
utility. Price $995.00, promotional price $795.00 



Object Rain fap./10H Ho. 107, Sec 2, Roosevelt Rood/Trip^ Taiwan, R.0.C 
Phone: 886-2-369-5121/Fax: 886-2-369-51 20/E-maS; idpi353@tpfsl.seeinef.tw 



Circle 109 on reader service card 



The Last Word in NEXTSTEP Systems 



Pars International Computer 

NOW SHIPPING 

BARRACUDA Series 

Benehmarked the fastest 

'486DX-66Mhz, EISA/VESA 

up to 1MB Cache and 256 MB memory 

Pentium™ Technology available 

starting at $1995. 



ip= 



All of our systems are preloaded, configured, and tested with 
NEXTSTEP according to your requirements. Our customer ser- 
vice has made us No. 1, ask Clorox, Bank of America, Lawrence 
Berkeley Lab, UC Berkeley, Unisys Corp., EDS, PG&E, and 

many more. 

Order Desk Call Toll Free: 1-800-947-4742 



Pars International Computer/ 22441 Foothill Blvd^Hayward, CA 94541/(800) 947-4742 
[510] 733-0103 Fax (5101 733-0206 



Circle 1 1 1 on reader service card 



ACADEMY-CAD on NEXTSTEP! 




ACADEMY™ is a 2D CAD program which through its open and flexible 
structure, extends across many business fields, from mechanical and elec- 
trical engineering to architecture. The graphics engine, already in use on 
other hardware platforms, was combined with NEXTSTEP to make 
ACADEMY™ powerful, yet easy and logical to use. You won't find 
cryptic commands, endless parameter lists and time wasting dialogs or 
complex menu structures. However, the well designed usage concept still 
allows for precise numerical inputs, calculation of geometry and con- 
struction data as well as exact placement. Promotional price = $11 95.00 

North America/Dominion Technologies, Ltd./(409) 778-361 S/academy@dtLtamu.6du 
Europe/Cube Infosyslene GnbH/+49 71 11 3 10 170/inf o@coBe.de 



Circle 110 on reader service card 



©image Delivers Unforgettable Briefings! 




Communicating more effectively to maximize the impact and staying power of 
your message is what gives professionals the competitive advantage. Yet it 
shouldn't take a programmer and several software packages to put together a 
compelling, multimedia briefing, ©image™ is the only NEXTSTEP presentation 
package that combines a complete drawing kit with unique presentation aids 
and display modes into one easy to use application. Features like Speaker's 
notes, interesting transition effects, dramatic slide backgrounds, and a network 
presentation capability are all included for a price of only $399. 

RDR, Inc./ 10600 Arrowhead Drive, Suite 350/ McLean, VA 22030 
Phone: 1 -800-523-2874 or 703-591-9517/ email: info@rdr.com 



Circle 1 12 on reader service card 



34 mam march im 



SIM SON 00002 124 






Picture your ad here! 




Make the most of your advertising dollar by letting NeXTWORLD do 
the work for you. The Product Showcase will give you extensive reach 
to a dedicated NEXTSTEP audience. It's perfect for introducing and 
test marketing new products. To participate, please submit the follow- 
ing: one four-color transparency or 35mm slide, 75 words of ad copy; 
and a brief headline. NeXTWORLD handles color separation and ad 
layout for you. Deadline: Six days prior to issue close date. For media 
kit, please contact NeXTWORLD. 

Company Name / Street Address / City, State Zip Code / Telephone Number 
Fax Number / Modem Address / E-mail, Etc... 



Classified 

NeXTWORLD magazine Classifieds is a 
monthly feature. Rates effective 
February/March Issue, Per-ime tates $15.00. 
Thirty-six characters equal one line (count 
each letter, space and punctuation mark as a 
character). Four-line minimum, seven lines 
per inch. For column inch rates, please call or 
write for complete rate card information. 
Check or money order (or certified check) 
must accompany copy and be received six 
days prior to close date. All ads accepted at 
the discretion of the publisher. 
NeXTWORLD magazine 501 Second St., San 
Francisco, CA 94107 415/978-3182. 



SOFTWARE 



Canon (cube) optical disks, 
unused, in original boxes. 
Quantity limited. $500/box of 
10, offers considered. 
(412) 683-2380 



APPLICATIONS 



MISCELLANEOUS 




Ve do NeXT! 

•Hard drives 

•NeXT Systems 

•Software 

•Consulting 

All your NeXT needs in one place at low 
prices. Large selection of new/used 
hardware and software, expert techincal 
support, generous trade-in values, custom 
application development, and more. Call us! 

1-800-PIXEL-M E 

(310) 459-6831. FAX (310) 459-6055 



CheckSunf 

Accounting App 

Checksum is an accounting & bookkeeping 
app designed for personal and small business 
use on the NeXT. Checksum organizes your 
income, expenses, property, and cash, 
balances your checkbook, and prints checks. 
Cut & paste reporting is featured. 

It's easy to track your 
finances in Checksum! 

Version 1.1: $95- 
(For Intel & NeXT) 



Sirius Solutions, IncJKS 
(415) 957-9044 
checksum @ sirius.com 




Advertiser Index 


RS# 


Company 


Page# 


RS# 


Company 


Page # 


27 


Alembic Systems 


24-25 


102 


Ocean Software 


32 


22 


Altsys 


10 


59 


Pages 


2 


B 


Anderson Financial Systems 


9 


32 


Parabase 


8 


7 


Anderson Financial Systems 


28 


111 


PARS International 


34 


64 


Athena Design 


12 


104 


Peripheral Solutions 


32 


79 


Black & White Software 


10 


112 


RDR 


54 


u 


BLaCKSMITH 


3 


73 


Sarrus Software, Inc. 


7 


11 


Blue Rose 


31 


107 


WI,Inc. 


33 


25 


Contemporary Cybernetics . 


5 


108 


Watershed 


33 


97 


Data General 


C3 


106 


WhiteLight Systems 


33 


103 


Data Net 


32 


78 


Xedoc 


3 


110 


Dominion Technologies 


34 


105 


Xenon Technologies 


33 


96 


GEC Computers 


11 








29 


Lighthouse Design, Ltd. 


C2 








109 


Object Rain Corp. 


34 








38 


Objective Technologies, Inc. 


C4 









u«n /">tt 









SIMSON00002125 



VANISHING POINT 




magine that after living for a long time in a small town, you find 
everyone else who lives there has started speaking a language 
you never heard before. They start dressing differently, thinking 
unimaginable thoughts, and generally losing a familiar affect. 
I'm not talking about a third iteration of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. 

I'm describing what seems to have happened to the NeXT community over 

the last two years, at least from my parochial perspective. Each passing issue 

of NeXTWORLD seems more impenetrable. It is filled with references to 

CORBA (which I gather not to be a form of herpetology), inheritance (which 

has nothing to do with probate), and dyna- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 

mic messaging exchange (most certainly not 

love letters). 

In other words, IS culture has taken over 

(much as I predicted it would when I first 

heard the dreary phrase "mission-critical 

custom app" ), and it uses the sort of hermetic 

lingo I'd expect from people who've actually 

read IBM service manuals cover to cover. 
This may be a gratuitously insulting 

way of defending the possibly ignorant 



A Magical 
Connection? 



J H N P E R R Y B A R L \V 



proposal I'm about to make for opening up the object culture of NEXT- 
STEP to another kind of foreigner. 

I had an experience the other day that made me think differently about 
the future of soft objects. I went down to General Magic, a little Silicon Val- 
ley start-up with ambitions as huge as its backers: Apple, Motorola, Sony, 
and AT&T. General Magic is mainly a swell sandbox for Bill Atkinson and 
Andy Hertzfeld, the playful wizards who gave us, among other things, the 
Macintosh interface and HyperCard. 

General Magic is also a major NeXT refugee camp. Fully ten percent of 
its staff are former NeXT employees, and even more of the remainder helped 
Steve Jobs create the Macintosh. The software they are creating will, I think, 
make objects as friendly and ubiquitous as Frisbees. They are developing 



two products aimed primarily, though not exclusively, at Personal Digital 
Assistants (PDAs). 

The products are Magic Cap, a PDA interface as obvious as your living 
room, and TeleScript, a platform-independent object-based language that I 
believe is destined to become the PostScript of telecom. TeleScript's so-called 
independent "agents" seem so viral that I predict we will need special agents 
to protect us from bands of digital hooligans roaming cyberspace. 

What does this have to do with NeXT? Little, apparently, given that 
Magic Cap currently supports only the Mac and Windows. Nevertheless, 
^^^^^^^^^^^^ the NEXTSTEP and General Magic soft- 
ware ecologies have more architectural 
commonality with each other than they do 
with any other existing environment. They 
contain very similar species that simply 
don't yet speak the same language. 

Here is where I leap in over my tech- 
nicafdepth. I don't really know C++ from 
an exceptionally mediocre report-card 
grade, but it does seem to me that it might 
be fairly easy to create an interpretive sub- 



strate upon which both kinds of objects could flourish and interact. 

Furthermore, the NeXT community has a programming paradigm that 
ought to adapt readily to the environments that General Magic is creating. 
And finally, a lot of the people in these two companies have personal rela- 
tionships that could speed integration. 

If NeXT is to succeed, it needs not only to provide a seamless continuity 
between the desktop and the central office's mainframe, but also extend 
into the coat pockets in which the businesspeople of the future will keep most 
of their immediate information. Neither company has the resources to make 
that happen yet. It will be up to you IS guys to do that. $ 



John Perry B a r l o w performs bis magic here each month. 



NeXT Games 



An anagraniis a word or phras 
3rd or phrase. Fdr install 

iiraffl or uecoj 



roi 



helps 

searches through its 
matches your reque 
Most are sib; 



dictionary for 

of course, but occasi. 



left Ad: Jarr 

d or phrase, and < 
jffibihationol 
ields thousands or an 






tAlblbr environ- 



■ 1 Li K. 



• he number of words in the 1 1 . Free V. Wilie 



i'e names of weil- 
a few are aspects i 
blanks provided; the number c 

answer. Two-word ansv, < , . ; ! e compound words with in 

ternai capitalization, I teiiook. Use the hints to check your answers. 

Up to ten lucky winners will re< I W&&LD tshirt, Address 

entries to Puzzle Editor, NeXTWORLD, 5< St., San Francisco, CA 

94107. Or fax us at 415/978-3196. Entries must 
1994. 

The answers to "Zoological/Notebook" in the fanua are: 3 - 

Albert, 4 - Fannie, 5 - Diane, 7 - Igor, 8 - Be mice, 9 - Ed - Helen, 

12 - George, and 1 3 - Chad; 



T K 

Anagram 

1. Text pens 

2. Same 

3. Shag a ram 

4. Virus, too 

5. Aim, drag 

6. Up a step 

7. MaskTasfer 

8. Ttroppicss 

9. PowerSack 
10. Civil Peers 



Answer 



XTSTEP 



12. idea! Path 

13. Expert mails 

14. Effort can 

15. Hasty feet 

16. Teach it, Mama 

17. Garble, twist, die 

18. A bundle rectifier 
19. 1 fight your sex 



■runt 

Can't fight the system 
Tabula rasa 
Title song 
Dfaw ; ffle:Qut 
Show -business-' 
Making book 
A man, a plan 
WYSIWYG 
Everything in its plac 
Tell it like it is 
Open and shut case 
World's record 
Improve youri image 
Model csfeen 
Back support 
Ft all adds up 
Lookupwordsange 
Who's got the butter 
Whiteknight 



16 



\l MARCH W4 



SIMSON00002126 




IF YOU HAVE ALL 
THE TIME IN THE 
WORLD, THEN BY 



ALL MEANS, DO IT 
THE HARD WAY... 



...IF YOU DON'T, 



WHAT ARE YOU 
WAITING FOR? 

Your next step 

should be with Data General 



You've chosen NEXTSTEP' because you need to develop 
mission -critical applications fast. Time spent configuring PC 
hardware and software and wondering if your NEXTSTEP 
environment will work is wasted time. When you buy a sys- 
tem from Data General, you just plug it in and start develop- 
ing your critical applications immediately. 

Data General DASHER II - 486DX2/66LE2 v PCs running 
NEXTSTEP for Intel processors, combined with the power 
and high availability features of our UNIX® system-based 
AViiON- servers, give you not just high quality systems, but 
the full service and support of a company that knows 
client/server computing. After all, we've already spent our 
time creating the AViiON open systems servers ranked #1 in 
the recent Computerworld Buyers' Scorecard.* 

And, we have been a partner with NeXT Computer for over a 
year. We have the commitment, knowledge, and experience 
to ensure that you maximize the return on your investment 
in NEXTSTEP systems. 

So, if you don 't have all the time in the world, take a minute to 
call 1-800-DATA GEN and we'll tell you how easy Data 
General can make your next step. 



(w Data General 

The Open Systems Experts 



The CW Guide to Servers: Buyers' Scorecard," Computerworld, March 22, 1993. 

© 1993 Data General Corporation DASHER IM86DX2/66LE2 is a trademark and AViiON is a registered 
trademark of Data General Corporation. NeXTSTEP is a registered trademark oi NeXT Computer, Inc. 
Unix is a registered trademark oi Unix System Laboratories. Inc. 



SIM SON 00002 127 




Hierarchical Reports 



Create multi-level 
hierarchical reports of 
arbitrary complexity. 
Titles and labels can 
repeat on each level. 



Cross Tables 




Multi-directional data 
replication allows 
creation of cross tabular 
and other complex 
report sections. 



Custom Elements 



Static Images 



Growth 
Trial: 



Subii 



Avg 



Growth S 
Trial: f 



Build your own palettes 
of report display 
elements. Customize 
the look of your report. 



Subji 

1 
I 

3 

4 



Avg 



Cell Regeneration Trial Report 
Sample NS-93 



Regrowth Cross Tabulation 
Triall A B C D 



Regrowth Codes 

A Full Regrowth 
B 'Partial Regeneration 
C Cell Acceptance 
D Cell Rejection 



Include logos, 

graphics, text and 

other static artwork 

in the report layout 

These will replicate as 

the report grows. 



Growth £ 
Trial: / 

Subi 
1 



Avg 
Confidential - i 



Rotated Elements, too! 



Summary: NS-93 Accelerated 

Depth(mm) 
Trial Start End A 


Davs lA - Al 


1 7.16 

2 8.23 

3 7.52 

4 6.96 


6.16 
5.94: 
6.28 
6.50 


1.00 
2.29. 
: 1.24 

0,46 


27.4 0.24 
35.4 1.05 

32.2 0.00 

19.3 0.78 






| 1.24 


Avg. Dev. 0.50 



Complex Analytics 




— Notes — 

This trial was extremely 
sucessful in showing the 
regenerative potential of 
Serum NS-93. We 
recommend going to lull 
human study as soon as 
possible. 



Confidential - Do Not Distribute 



Page 1 of 4 



2:1 tam 7/11/1993 



Create formulas 

dependant on data or 

other calculations that 

are described earlier 

or later in the report 



Rich Text 



Retrieve formatted 

text (RTF) from the 

database. 











SmartField 
Palette 

Winner of ObjectWare 

Best Of Breed Award 

_____f 



The DBKit™ Report Writer 

Impress™ is the missing piece of the 
DBKit. NeXT supplied the tools to create 
custom database applications but what 
you need are account statements, 
analytical reports, form letters and 
mailing labels. On paper. Without writing 
a program or learning PostScript". 

Impress lets you easily create reports 
from any DBKit accessible database. Use 
WYSIWYG layout tools to produce 

ftnpiSH and SmartFiehiPaletle are trademark at Objective Technologies, 
lt\c. DUKit « a trademark of NeXT. Inc. PostScript is a registered trademark 
of Adobe Svsiems Inc. 



everything from simple tables to multi- 
page hierarchical documents. Retrieve 
data with point & click query tools. 
Construct complex reports with an 
extensible scripting language. 

Buy Impress and let Objective 
Technologies finish the job NeXT began. 
Report writing was never so easy. 




Technologies 1 , 



800.3.0BJECT 212.227.6767 infos object. <om 



Circle 38 on reader service card 



SIMSON00002128 



APRIL 



ih^etbepcapj 



Wl 



» M ».>0'>« , "1 



NeXT in Japan 
Zen and the Ait 
Of Marketing 



Extra Persistent 
Enterprise 
Objects Due 




Oak and Acorns gfcS 



Ex-NeXTers Plant | 
Third Party Seeds 



ft) 



First L 



■ ■■.< 



• NS for PA-RISC 



HP MoHtl 712 



-N 

:'■■- 

wo 




i!?$}2 £-$:■:■>,• '%.,:■* ^-ttzlrti I I 



i? ^^^^^^H fgv. 






ji!?K'"'- ; ■ vr^"-: : - : ' \:,- r • ; - «*.»S 




SIM SON 00002 129 



Lighthouse Design Offers an Immediate 
Return on Your NEXTSTEP Investment 



DIAGRAM! 2 



Business and Technical Graphics 

The first "smart" drawing program designed specifically 
for information graphics— and the business and 
technical professionals who create them. 



• Object-oriented/CASE graphics 

• Documentation and training graphics 

• General purpose business graphics 

• "Pro" version includes Clip Art library 




CONCURRENCE 2 



Presentation and Outlining 



Commg in Q2 '94 



A complete package providing all the power you need to 
create polished presentations— from 35mm slides and 
overheads to viewgraphs and on-line briefings. 



• Integrated outliner for brainstorming ideas 

• Reads/writes PowerPoint and Persuasion files 

• Drag/drop text editing, with spell checker 

• Accepts over 30 standard image formats 




TASKMASTER 



WETPAINT 



Project and Resource Management 

A completely integrated solution for serious project 
management— from software development to factory 
production. 




• Interactive task outliner and Gantt chart 

• Drag/drop resource assignment 

• MacProject & Microsoft Project compatible 

• PERT graphics auto-generated by Diagram! 2 



Image Painting and Manipulation 

A powerful addition to your suite of design tools— for 
stunning effects in presentations, custom user interfaces 
and graphic design. 

• Supports TIFF, PS, EPS and RIB formats 

• Extensive collection of tools and filters 

• Explicit support for third party extensions 

• Adobe Photoshop capabilities for NEXTSTEP! 




For a free CD-ROM of demo software, write info@lighthouse.com or call 1-800-366-2279. 



Making Your Desktops as Productive as Your Developers., 



tapfigtnnHl^ham>tDmgi,Uit Ml^fimtoaml wi tft DR«ra»i'ft«» Gi mm Arku mnctie^, rastttaiW, tfx 

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Circle 29 on reader service card 



2929 Campus Drive Suite 250 

San Mateo, CA 94403 
415/570-7736 or 800/366-2279 
415/570-7787 (fax) 




SIMSON00002130 



Lighthouse Design Offers an Immediate 
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• Integrated outliner for brainstorming ideas 

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• Drag/drop text editing, with spell checker 

• Accepts over 30 standard image formats 




TASKMASTER 



Project and Resource Management 

A completely integrated solution for serious project 
management— from software development to factory 
production. 

• Interactive task outliner and Gantt chart 

• Drag/drop resource assignment 

• MacProject & Microsoft Project compatible 

• PERT graphics auto-generated by Diagram! 2 




WETPAINT 



Image Painting and Manipulation 

A powerful addition to your suite of design tools— for 
stunning effects in presentations, custom user interfaces 
and graphic design. 

• Supports TIFF, PS, EPS and RIB formats 

• Extensive collection of tools and filters 

• Explicit support for third party extensions 

• Adobe Photoshop capabilities for NEXTSTEP! 




For a free CD-ROM of demo software, write info@lighthouse.com or call 1-800-366-2279. 



Making Your Desktops as Productive as Your Developers. 



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Circle 29 on reader service card 



2929 Campus Drive Suite 250 
San Mateo, CA 94403 
415/570-7736 or 800/366-2279 

415/570-7787 (fax) 




SIMSON00002131 



Contents 



Features 



First NeXT RISC Workstation 16 



Our first look at NEXTSTEP for HP PA-RISC running on tin 

new HP Model 712 workstation suggests that NeXT has 

fulfilled its original vision 



Real World: Evaluating Intel Hardware 5 



tcbing numbers and needs: How companies choose f) 
among 200 Intel brands and confi^nmtions 



m Pa 



Open Door Policy 19 

NeXT mixes tradition and innovation to gain market sb 
in the Land of the Rising Sim 



B Y S f M SON L . G A R F 1 N 



Commentary: Chaos or Control? i 

mer NeXT district sales manager makes the ease for an 



open NEXTSTEP OEM channel 



Reviewi 



Decaf Development 24 

Professional Software's ESPRESSO! environment may not 
be everybody's cup of Java 

n y Si .v! s o x L . G a rf t n i i i 



Talent Spin-off 8 

Former NeXT employees arc seeding the third-party market 



x expertise 



P A l! i C v 



PIllS New in Shrmktvrap and On the Net 



Report for Duty 26 



Ocean Software's Complete Access puts powerful daU 
reporting tools in the bands of corporate users 



S f T h Ross 



Daydream Believer 27 



Quix fulfills the h 



Mac System 7. 1 on 



v, y D o N' W i l s o x 

Box Scores 28 

Screamers: Pentium from Advance 2000 and '486 from Pars 
International 

b y d a n l.a v i x a x d l f. e s h f 8 m a x 
Reviews Desk 29 



News 



NeXT WORLD Extra 11 

NeXT gears for Tixpo with Enterprise Objects FramM 



Viewpoint: 



The NeXT World 

Ruby mandates managed competition m 
NEXTSTEP services 



Lip Service 



Developer Camp 22 

•I wants to feel more secure With NEXTSTEP 



Sitnson Garfinkel 



NeXT Ink 23 

Dan Lspin hits for the sales cvcle mil; 



vcie writ) a vt previe; 



Vanishing Point 36 

n ferry B&rlow sends out an SOS 



NeXT Games 36 

Wt Kim takes m all to fa 



g r a # ti y by F r e d St i m's o r» 



SIM SON 00002 132 



Westle WordPerfect 
FutzwithFrameMakef 

Or simply use Pages" 




"Pages represents a breakthrough 

in document processing that should appeal 

to users at all levels" 

NdCTWORLDJuM 1993 



"Instant Pages - just add content- watch hilly formed pages take 
shape before your very eyes" 

PuUi$h Magazine 
"What you see is what you really wanted... 
Pages is one of the best arguments for NeXT" 

Esther Dyson, Release 1.0 

"Impressive user interface... the system offers a lot of 
innovative ideas and solid functionality" 



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SaixM Report 
B<xe & Rhodes Report 



Call now for our special introductory offer 

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by Pages 

Pages Software be, 9755 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., San Diego, CA 92124 USA 

Pages is a trademark of Pages Software Inc 

WordPerfect is a trademark of WordPerfect, Inc. FrameMaker h a trademark dffeme Technology Corp 

Circle 59 on reader service card 




Vol 4, No. 4 APRIL 1994 

President Gordon Haight 

Editor tn Chief Daniel Ruby 

[BtlOIIIi 

Managing Editor Eliot Bergson 

Senior Reviews Editor Dan Lavin 

Associate Designer Beth Kamoroff 

Assistant Editor Paul Curthoys 

Senior Contributing Editors Simson L. Gariktkel, Lee Sherman 

Contributing Editors Joe Barello, John Perry Barlow, 

Tony Bove and Cheryl Rhodes, Ben Calica, 

M CarLing, Daniel Miles Kehoe, Scott Kim, Robert Lauriston, 

Charles L. Perkins, Rick Reynolds, Seth Ross 

ART UNO DESIGN 

Earl Office San Francisco, California 

PRODUCTION 

Director of Manufacturing Jayne Bayer 
Manufacturing Manager Filial Sala 
Advertising Coordinator David Zink 

ADVERTISING SALES 

Associate Publisher Steve Fricke 

415/267-1784 

Western Sales Manager Laurie Eddy 

415/978-3188 

ADMINISTRATION 

Operations Manager Graciela Eulate 

Director of Information Services Kevin Greene 

IM1 Corporate Manager Bate] Libes 

CIRCULATION 

Circulation Manager Catherine Huchting 

Single Copy Sales Director George Clark 

Single Copy Sales Representative Marty Garcher 

Circulation Assistant Jason Paul Muscat 

IDG CORPORATE ADMINISTRATION 

Director of Finance Vkki Peilen 

Financial Analyst Madeleine Buckingham 

Accounting Manager Pat Murphy 

To reach NeXTWORLD by mail or courier, use this address: NeXTWORLD, 501 Second St., San 
Francisco, CA 94 1 07. You can also contact NeXTWORLD via die Internet at nextworlddnewworld. 
com, via MCI mad at NEXTWORLD, or via fas at 415/978-3 196. NeXTWORLD is published month- 
ly by Integrated Media, 501 Second St., San Francisco, CA 94107, a subsidiary of IDG Com- 
munications, the world leader in information services on information technology. Basic subscription 
rate is S39.90 for 12 monthly issues. Foreign orders must be prepaid in U.S. funds with additional 
postage. For Canada, add $15. All other foreign orders, add $40 for airmail and $15 for surface deliv- 
ery. Fax 415/442-1891 to charge VISAAMC. For new subscriptions or subscriber-service questions, 
call toll-free 800/685-3435; in Tennessee or from outside the United States, call 615/377-3322; or write 
P.O. Box 5038, Brentwood, TN 37024-9817. Application to mail at Second Class postage rates pend- 
ing at San Francisco and additional mailing offices. For permission to quote or reproduce editorial 
material from NeXTWORLD, send a written request stating the issue date, article, page number(s), 
and exact text of the material to: Reprints and Permissions. NeXTWORLD Production, 501 Second 
St., San Francisco, CA 94107. For back issues of NeXTWORLD, write to: Back Issues, 
NeXTWORLD Circulation; $8 per issue; $18 per issue outside U.S. prepaid. POSTMASTER; 
Send address changes to NeXTWORLD, P.O. Box 5038, Brentwood, TN 37024-9817 or call 
615/377-3322. Editorial and business offices: 501 Second St., San Francisco,CA 94107; 415/243-0600. 
NeXTWORLD is a publication of Integrated Media. Printed in the United States of America. 
NeXTWORLD is a trademark of NeXT and is used under license. This publication is not affiliated 
with NeXT. Copyright © 1994 Integrated Media. All rights reserved. Canadian GST #124669433. 



IDG: IDS 

NeXTWORLD is a publication oflnternanonai Data Group, the 
world's largest publisher of computer-rekted inf«maiiaii arid the 
leading global provider oi information services on information 
technology. International Data Group publishes over 19-1 com- 
puter publications in 61 commies, forty million people read one 
or more International Data Group publications each month. 
International Data Group's publications include: ARGENTI- 
NA'S Compuierworld Argentina, Infowodd Argentina; ASIA'S 
Computerworld Hong Kong, PC World Hong Kong, 
Compuretworld Southeast Asia, PC World Singapore, 
Computerworld Malaysia, PC World Malaysia; AUSTRALIA'S 
Compuierworld Australia, Australian PC World, Australian 
Macworld, Network: World, Reseller, IDG Sources; AUSTRIA'S 
Coniputtrwclt Oesierrach, PC Test; BRAZIL'S Computerworld, 
Mundo IBM, Mundo Unix, PC World, Publish; BULGARIA'S 
Computerworld Bulga ria, Ediworld. PC & Mac World Bulgaria; 
CANADA'S Direct Access, Graduate Computerworld, 
InfoCanada, Network World Canada; CHILE'S Computerworld, 
Iriformatica; COLOMBIA'S Computerworld Columbia; CZECH 
REPUBLICS Computerworld, Elektromka, PC World; DEN- 
MARK'S CAD/CAM WORLD, Communications World, 
Computerworld Danmark, LOTUS World, Macintosh 
Praduktkataiog, Macworld Danmark, PC World Danmark, PC 
World Produktguide, Windows World; ECUADOR'S PC World; 
EGYPT'S Computerworld Middle East, PC World Middle East; 
FINLAND'S MikrsPC, Tittoviilcko, Tinoverkko; FRANCE'S 
Dismbunqae. GOLDEN MAG InfoPC, Languages & Systems, 
Le Guide du Monde Informatique, Le Monde Informatique, 
Telecoms & Reseaus: GERMANY'S Computerwoche. 
Computerwoche Focus, Computerwoche Extra, Computerwoche 
Karriere, Information Management, Macwelt, Netzwelr, PC 
Welt, PC woche, Publish, Unit; HUNGARY'S Alaplap, 
Computerworld SZT, PC World; INDIA'S Computers k 
Communications; ISRAEL'S Computerworld Israel, PC world 
Israel; ITALY'S Computerworld Italia, Lotus Magazine, 
Macworld Italia, Networking Italia, PC World Italia, JAPAN'S 
Computerworld Japan, Macworld Japan, SunWorld Japan, 
Windows World: KENYA'S East African Computer News; 
KOREA'S Computerworld Korea. Macworld Korea, PC World 
Korea; MEXICO'S Compu Edicion, Cornpu Manufacture, 
Computacion/Poiio de Vesta, Computerworld Mexico, 



tlfflRI 

Mac World, Mundo Unix, PC World, Windows; THE NETHER- 
LAND'S Computer! Totaal, LAN Magazine, Mac World; NEW 
ZEALAND'S Compurer listings, Computerworld New Zealand, 
New Zealand PC World; NIGERIA'S PC World .Africa; NOR 
WAY'S Computerworld No:rge, CVWorld, Lotusworld Norgc, 
Macworld Norge, Networld, PC World Ekspress, PC Wotld 
Notge, PC World's Product Guide, Publish World, Student Data, 
Unix World, Windowsworld; IDG Direct Response; PANAMA'S 
PC World; PERU'S Computerworld Peru, PC World; PEOPLE'S 
REPUBLIC OF CHINA'S China Computerworld, PC World 
Quna, Electronics International, China Network World: IDG 
HIGH TECH BEIJING'S New Product World; IDG SHEN- 
ZHEN'S Computer News Digest; PHILLIPPINE'S 
Computerworld, PC World; POLAND'S Computerworld Poland, 
PC World'Komputer, PORTUGAL'S Cetebro/PC World, Correio 
InformaticuComputerworld, Macln; ROMANIA'S PC World; 
RUSSIA'S Cornputerworld-Moscow, Mir - PC, Scty; SLOVE- 
NIA'S Monitor Magazine; SOUTH AFRICA'S Computing S.A.; 
SPAIN'S Amiga World, Computerworld Espana, 
Communicactones World, Macworld Espana, NeXTWORLD, 
PC World Espana, Publish, SunWorld; SWEDEN'S Attack! 
ComputerSweden, Corporate Computing, Lokala Narverk'LAN, 
Lotus World, MAC&PC, Macworld, Mikrodatarn, PC World, 
Publishing & Design (CAP), Daialngenjoren, Maxi Data, 
Windows World; SWITZERLAND'S Computerworld Scbwetz, 
Macworld Sckwetz, PC & Workstation; TAIWAN'S 
Computerworld Taiwan, Global Computer Express, PC World 
Taiwan; THAILAND'S Thai Compuierworld; TURKEY'S 
CornputerwDrid Monitor, Macworld Turkiye, PC World Turkiye; 
UKRAINE'S Computerworld; UNITED KINGDOM'S Lotas 
Magazine, Macworld, SunWorld; UNITED STATES' 
AmigaWotld, Cable in the Classroom, CD Renew, CIO, 
Computerworld, Desktop Video World, DOS Resource Guide, 
Electronic News, Federal Computer Week, Federal Integrator, 
CamtPro, IDG Books. Inioworld, Infoworld Direct, Laser Event, 
Macworld, Multimedia World, Network World, NeXTWORLD,' 
PC Garnet, PC Letter, PC World, Publtsh, Sutnena, SunWorki 
SWATPro, Video Event; VENEZUELA'S Computerworld 
Venezuela, MieroComputerworld Venezuela; VIETNAM'S PC 
Wcdd Vietnam. 



"1 



2 Mm APRIL 1994 




SIM SON 00002 133 



THE NeXT world 



s NeXT seeks to increase its income in areas outside its core 
system-software business, it is beginning to find itself in com- 
petition with its own partners. Here's a typical story, 
A corporation in the Northeast, having recently purchased 
a substantial number of NEXTSTEP seats, needs to establish a program for 
training its developers to use the software. One of NeXT's Object Channel 
partners submits a bid for a comprehensive training program. It turns out, 
however, that NeXT's own Professional Services group wants the training 
contract for itself. 

The partner is in a quandary. It could 
choose to compete by offering its services at 
a discounted price. But doing so would antag- 
onize the local NeXT sales force, which needs 
that business to meet its quota for services 
revenue. At the same time, the partner needs 
to maintain a close working relationship with 
the sales force so it will be brought in on con- 
sulting and integration contracts for other cus- 
tomers. 

Result: The partner quietly withdraws its 
bid, thereby losing out on a substantial rev- 
enue opportunity. 

What we have here is a classic case of channel conflict, NeXT needs 
partners to help support its sales. It also needs revenues in the very same 
business segments that provide a living for the partners. This is already an 
issue in the services sector, and we can expect to see more conflict in the 
future in other areas, such as application software. 

For the hard-pressed partners, the solution is simple: NeXT should stick 
to its core business of developing and selling NEXTSTEP and leave the 

aftermarket opportunities for third-party suppliers. In this case, however, 

simple is also simplistic. Why shouldn't NeXT have the opportunity to en- Dan R u b y is NeXTWORLD s editor in chief. 



Managed 
Competition 



l) an Ruby 



hance its revenue base? More to the point, why shouldn't customers have as 

many options as possible, comparing offerings on die basis of quality and price? 
The view from here is that competition is good, as long as the playing 

field is level. In the training example, the field is skewed in NeXT's favor. 

The partner is at a disadvantage because of the need to maintain a close 

relationship with the NeXT sales force. The customer is at a disadvantage 

because it has fewer choices of suppliers. 

To level the field, NeXT should decouple the sale of NEXTSTEP from 

the sale of aftermarket services. This process may entail establishing sepa- 
rate sales forces for separate products and 
services. Or it could set different commis- 
sion structures for the different lines of 
business. 

Despite the grumbling from its partners, 
it is not necessary for NeXT to provide a 
protected market for its third parties. But it 
does need to provide a fair market. 

In the end, it is not just a question of fair 
play. It is also a matter of strategic impor- 
tance for NeXT. Yes, NeXT needs multiple 
revenue streams. But it also requires a strong 



cast of financially secure partners. 

Channel conflict is nothing unique to the NeXT market. Vendors on 
other computer platforms have struggled with the issue of competing with 
their own partners in application software and other aftermarket segments. 
The key to the solution is recognizing the problem and carefully managing 
the channel so that everyone is able to compete on an equal basis. 

As long as NeXT is seen as one among a group of suppliers, without an 
inside track, then everyone can win - most of all the customer, $ 








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Circle 93 on reader service card 



APDir ICIQ/f IIPVTHinoiR 3 



SIMSON00002134 



LETTERS 



Smarter than that 

Regarding your review of Stayln- 
Toueh 1,25 in the January 1994 issue 
("Contact Sports"), we found the 
following inaccuracies: 

• StaylnToueh has compact win- 
dows (expert windows) just like 
SBook does, available in the version 
reviewed. 

• StaylnToueh can import from 
a variety of sources, the system is con- 
figurable, and it sports an import 
language that affords absolute con- 
trol over how data is imported into 
the application. If StaylnToueh doesn't 
import a particular data format, it 
has always been our policy to pro- 
vide the customer with either a free 
data conversion or a means to con- 
vert the data. 

• StaylnToueh has no artificial 
limit on the amount of data that it 
can import (beyond computer speed 
and available memory}. Our in-house 
workouts routinely test with data- 
bases that contain over 15,000 re- 
cords (4.19MB address files), and 
we have not experienced any of the 
of the choking problems implied in 
the review. Version 2.0, which shipped 
in February, introduces more effi- 



cient file loading; our 15,000-record 
file takes less than a minute to load. 

• StaylnToueh not only recog- 
nizes U.S. addresses and phone num- 
bers, but Canadian 
and British formats 
as well. Other Euro- 
pean countries with 
similar addressing 
formats may work as 
well. The software 
also provides intelli- 
gent dialing for in- 
ternational phone 
numbers. 

• No software 
application that dials 
a phone with a 
modem "knows" 
when a voice call is 
finished. The article 
implies that SBook 
can detect this con- 
dition and reset the 
port. StaylnToueh 
2.0 corrects the 
inconvenience of 
having to reset the lock before mak- 
ing a new call. 

• StaylnToueh has always al- 
lowed users to alphabetize each entry 




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in any way that they see fit, They 
have complete control of sort orders 
by either the name field or the brows- 
er's record label. 

As for your posi- 
tioning of our prod- 
uct, your evaluation 
in no way represents 
the product empha- 
sis or the market 
orientation of Stay- 
lnToueh. If a user 
seeks a certain fea- 
ture that our prod- 
uct does not offer, 
then a competitor's 
product may be a 
better choice for that 
particular user, re- 
gardless of catego- 
rization. The end 
user am make a very 
competent evalua- 
tion of which prod- 
uct is better for his 
needs - demos are 
free for the asking. 
This decision is not NeXTWORLD's 
to make or endorse. 

I encourage you to focus on the 
comprehensive features and benefits 
afforded to users of any reviewed 
product. Your PC-counterpart pub- 
lications seem to do this well. 

Manuel Albert Ricart 
President, SmartSoft 
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 

We stand by the review, which was 
based on the four beta versions of 
StaylnToueh 1,25 that we worked 
with over the period of a month. The 
features described were either not in 
place or not working. Given the di- 
versity of the NEXTSTEP market, 
we believe it is the magazine's job to 
evaluate applications on the basis 
of their appropriateness for different 
market segments. - NW 

Ultimate upgrade path 

I own a NeXTcube with tons of ex- 
pensive peripherals and software. I 
have used the Cube as a home com- 
puter for daily use and for business 
for two-and-a-half years with no has- 
sles at all. 

The only wish I had for my Cube 
is color and maybe more processing 
power, but to upgrade from 25MHz 
to 33MHz is not really necessary. So 
why do I have to buy a new box just 
to get color, especially when the box 



is near-equally powered and the al- 
ternative means "Intel inside"? Re- 
member the idea behind a black Cube, 
The simplest upgrade path ever - 
change just one board, nothing more. 
The chassis of the Cube was built 
for the future, not the garbage. 

Why is there no company that 
will construct a Pentium board to fit 
in the Cube - and SPARC, PA-RISC, 
and PowerPC boards later? I'm not 
alone with my Cube. Some thousands 
of other users would love to upgrade 
to the next generation of processors, 

The marriage with Sun and 
NeXT is a big step forward, but a 
port to PowerPC would be even more 
interesting because the hardware 
should be less expensive. I look for- 
ward to the marriage of NeXT and 
Apple. That would be the last big 
deal of the century. 

Don't good old NeXT custom- 
ers deserve a bonus or goody? 

Martin Bachmann 
Lucerne, Switzerland 

Early adopter 

In my house, the "reading room" 
happens to be the bathroom. So 
when my son, Levi, who we are 
potty training, sat down, picked up 
NeXTWORLD, opened it up, and 
acted like he was reading it, I just had 
to take a picture and send it to you. 
I guess you could say that NeXT 
users aren't made, they're born, 

Jerald Dawson 
Chicago 




NeXTWORLD welcomes your comments, 
Please mail them to Utters at HeXJ- 



W0RLD f 501 Second St, San Francisco, 
CA 94107, or e-mail them to letters® 
nextworid.com. 






4 ns; 



APRIL 1994 



SIM SON 00002 135 



- 



■ 



OTHHHHMHHBBHi 



Evaluating Intel 
Hardware 

Purchasing de c i s i o n s 



Since the bleaching of NeXT, more than 50 Intel-based PC manufac- 
turers have announced NEXTSTEP compatibility, offering upward of 200 
different configurations. Corporate IS managers have, in turn, been faced 
with the dizzying chore of establishing evaluation methods to find the brands 
and configurations that best meet their needs. 

Many buyers have set up formal laboratory testing procedures, by 
which NEXTSTEP jocks run benchmark packages on the machines, put the 
boxes through elaborate I/O stress tests, and generally try their best to hang 
and crash the systems. Many hardware makers claim smooth NEXTSTEP 
capability but few actually provide it; testers found that many PCs ran 
NEXTSTEP poorly or not at all. 

"We spent about six months evaluating vendors who were touting sys- 
tems as being able to run NEXTSTEP," says John Keazirian, executive vice- 
president for NationsBanc-CRT, a Chicago-based derivatives-trading firm. 
The lab ran software applications, measured video refresh, performed 
throughput stress testing, compared the ease of loading NEXTSTEP, counted 
how many times the machines crashed or hung - and on and on. 

After settling on the brand that held up best under the firm's testing, 
NationsBanc worked with the vendor to provide the configurations that met 
the organization's particular criteria for memory, disk space, monitor type, 
and a few other technical requirements specific to the firm's custom-appli- 
cations deployment. 

Testers say that benchmark packages, such as Drive Performance and 
NXBench, are an alternative to in-house testing procedures and provide 
users with some, but not all, of the measurements they need. 

"Certain motherboards are slow, for example, and others will scream, 
so some of these dhrystone tests do uncover things like that," says Steve 
Bonsid, consulting systems engineer for Stratus Computer, a Marlboro, Mas- 
sachusetts-based maker of fault-tolerant computers. 

But endless testing and measuring is 
not the only way to evaluate Intel comput- 
ers, says William Young, senior systems 
engineer at Trident Data Systems, a long- 
standing NEXTSTEP integrator in Los 
Angeles. 

"You could have done almost all that 
on paper," he says. "I would probably have 
sent out the machines more quickly to cus- 
tomers for feedback on running the systems 
in their environments." 

NeXT is taking steps to support both 
customers and manufacturers on white 
hardware, according to Bob Lawton, who, 
as NeXT's strategic technology manager, 
is in charge of putting NEXTSTEP onto 







n s^ el 






■3 



irap le 



\^3X> 



\0 




Important factors crra> by buyers or 
NEXTSTCP for Into, hardware 



• Pentium upgradeability 

• Cache size 

• Video-display size and 
number of pixels 

• Windows compatibility 
and performance 

• 2.88MB floppy' drive 

• Ethernet, SCSI, and 
CD-ROM performance 

• Speed of loading 
NEXTSTEP 

• Crash-recovery and file- 
protection systems 

• Performance running 

NEXTSTEP APPLICATIONS 



Intel machines. Much of the success that any given brand and configuration 
will have running NEXTSTEP depends on how well NeXT and its vendors 
work together. 

In the future, buyers will see four levels of endorsement from NeXT for 
Intel hardware brands. The first, of course, is nothing at all: no stickers, 
logos, or any other indication from NeXT that it knows how well NEXT- 
STEP will run on that particular machine. This does not mean NEXTSTEP 
won't work, or even work well; it just means NeXT has not tested the brand 
or its configurations. 

One of the most common sights will probably be stickers that identify 



brands as NEXTSTEP Compatible. In this case, the vendors have tested 
their own systems for compatibility and listed the results with NeXT. But 
NeXT will not claim any special expertise about the compatibility of these 
brands. 

NeXT offers the most security for machines classified as NEXTSTEP 
Certified and NEXTSTEP Installed. This classification is for brands and 
configurations that NeXT has studied, tested, debugged, approved, and 
agreed to support. Under the terms of a new policy announced in January, 
NeXT will provide 30 days of free support to customers who buy one of 
the certified configurations. 

"If you install a certified system and you have a problem with it, then 
we own the problem," Lawton says. 

Lawton stresses that NeXT is not interested in rating the boxes on spe- 
cific details of performance - whether one machine is faster than another 
on a given benchmark. Strict performance issues arise from particular user 
needs, he says. 

When testing machines, experienced buyers say that they are also test- 
ing the manufacturers themselves. How closely and attentively the vendor 
works with the buyer during the evaluation period is an important concern 
for most buyers, and it reveals much about the vendor. 

"A lot of the vendors we've dealt with were just disorganized and clue- 
less," says Bonsid. "I'm not going to chase anyone to give them my busi- 
ness, because I know once they sell me something, I'm going to be chasing 
them every time I need them." 

These concerns only point to historic differences found in the PC and 
workstation worlds. Architecturally, these Intel boxes are high-end PCs. 
But NEXTSTEP users do not buy PCs, high-end or otherwise - they buy 
workstations. It's not just a niggling matter of nomenclature; it's a critical 
distinction. 

"The more vendors can make the PC experience more like buying a 
Sun or an HP workstation, the more they can attract enterprise-type cus- 
tomers," says Trident's Young. "We're looking for a whole package - we 
don't want to get into the business of swapping cards, or stocking them, and 
having people who worry about that sniff." 

Customers say that NEXTSTEP users will help force changes in the Intel 
market, as vendors will have to begin selling more integrated systems. Users 
will also reap big benefits. 

As the market evolves, information strategists must consider the up- 
coming NEXTSTEP RISC machines from major companies like Hewlett- 
Packard and Sun Microsystems. Young, for example, has seen working 
prototypes of HP's NEXTSTEP-ready RISC computer - and he's impressed. 

"They're nothing but fast," Young says. "But, as nice as they are, we 
need machines now." And "now" means Intel. 

Bonsid says it's more critical for his firm, with offices on several conti- 
nents, to stick with the platform that's easiest and least expensive to support 
worldwide - and he believes that Intel will remain the world's standard. 

Overall, customers say that buying NEXTSTEP for Intel machines is 
more than just a hardware, support, or standardization decision - it's a 
systems decision. "Generally it isn't the benchmarks or having the largest 
screen or anything like that," says Young. "It's the whole package." % 

by Paul Karon 

Feat Worid is a continuing series that looks at the nuts-and-bolts issues of 
implementing NEKTSTEP solutions in large organizations. 



1 DDK fOO.f UBVTUIflBin 



SIMSON00002136 



COMMUNITY 






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READ 



Sir Francis Drake Blvd., C342 
Kentfield, CA 94904 USA 

415,257.4700 

Circle 8 on reader service card 
6 NiXTWORLD APRIL 1994 

l^irtltf trt mm reuuei sekile luiu 




Chaos or Control? 

Commentary 

WOlffiSTATION 2000 HAS SOLD HUNDREDS OF FmOADED INTEL-BASED WORKSTATIONS INTO SOME OF NeXTS LARGO 

accounts. As an informed player in the marketplace, I also hear from a lot of people who purchased 
NEXTSTEP and a PC clone and became frustrated with their difficulties in loading the operating sys- 
tem. Some even give up and just load Windows, muttering that NEXTSTEP is an impossible OS. I won- 
der if these unhappy potential users are hurting NeXT at a time when growth is so important 

Currently, anyone with a valid resale certificate can purchase NEXTSTEP from a distributor, 
install it on a system, and resell ft preinstalled on a '486 or Pentium. A lot of the calls that we get 
asking for help come from this quarter: customers who have bought systems from small vendors 
with limited NEXTSTEP expertise. Both these unhappy customers and inexperienced vendors hurt 
NEXTSTEP'S reputation in the marketplace. 

So the question arises: Should NeXT continue to allow unrestricted sales of NEXTSTEP? The 
answer is still yes. 

NeXT has already taken steps toward restricting distribution by classifying systems preloaded 
by the manufacturer as "certified," while other NEXISTEP-compatible systems are merely "listed" ty 
NeXT. According to NeXT, the different ratings affect how vigorously NeXT will stand by its OS on that 
particular machine. But which machines make the certified list seems to depend less on how wel 
the hardware runs NEXTSTEP man the PC-market presence of its manufacturer. This marketing real! 
offers few benefits to the end user. 

Large PC manufacturers {Compaq, Dell, and so forth) think in terms of millions of units, not ta 
of thousands. The PC marketplace (dominated by DOS, Windows, and otter future large viruses] is huge 
and will continue to dwarf the UNIX marketplace in the foreseeable future. And even within the UNIX mar- 

ketpiace, NEXTSTEP is well positioned but still has 



limited acceptance in comparison with market 
leaders like HP and Sun. 

Given tJiese curr^rt realrbes, NEXTSTEP wiJ lai> 
guish on the shelf because of neglect and a lack d 
energetic marketing by PC manufacturers. They 
will always put their resources to work where that 
ieve^luecon^(^rram-prorlwb^^lbT)sort|.ty(^itcfc, 
This tact becomes clearer when you look at 
NeXTs target customers: large firms that need 
to develop mission-critical custom apps, Because 
of their focus on development rather than pro- 
ductivity, they are are among the most sophis- 
ticated of computer buyers. And when ft comes 
to selecting platforms and vendors for develop- 
ment and deployment, their selection process is 
thorough and exhaustive. They prefer to buy their 
systems from hardware vendors that are NEXT 
STEP-oriented and as technically competent as they are - increasingly, firms in NeXTs VAR channel. 
Yet it is the VAR channel that would be devastated by decisions fe> restrict NEXTSTEP ritstributioi], 
Time and again, at large and small accounts all across North America and Europe, NEXTSTEP- 
savvy VARs have stepped in to help close sales. Time and again, these VARs have answered the "help 
me" phone calls of dismayed customers. And time and again, these VARs have pushed the OS wi 
the kinds of resourceful marketing that big PC manufacturers seldom undertake. 

NeXTs Mi-sales organization is still small but is required to produce some pretty impressive num- 
bers this year. A VAR that has staked its corporate future on NEXTSTEP systems also has a vested in- 
terest in helping NeXT achieve these goals. VARs take a dedicated approach to the sales process and, 
by definition, add vaiue. They have the technical staff iiiM can pafMrritfie customization Mis usual 
required tor a large deployment. The relationship goes far beyond simply filling demand for hardware; 
the teamwork between the VAR and NeXT builds customer confidence and helps NeXT close the sale, 
Ultimately, the marketplace will dictate the right channels for delivering NEXTSTEP systems to 
the growing customer base. Strong partners will grow and profit from NeXTs good decisions and 
new alliances - and the weak or incompetent players will disappear. Perhaps some fine-tuning of 
the distribution strategy for NEXTSTEP is in order, but restricting it too severely would damage some 
of the small but growing companies that have proven to be NeXTs strongest proponents. And then 
we'd never know just how much they might have contributed to NeXTs future success. § 



Workstation 2000's Tim Finnegan 



Tim Finnegan is president of Workstation 2000. He was a district sales manager at Ml 
from 1990-1993. Before that, he worked at HP and Apollo. 

Photograph by Susan Wernes 



SIM SON 00002 137 



Mission - Critical Information 



i 





Catch the wave of 
objects for the enterprise. 
NeXTWORLD - the only 



magazine 

MXTSTEP and OpenStep 



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SIM SON 00002 138 






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SIM SON 00002 139 




I I Y 



February 1 to March 1 



Connectivity, Commiimcations, and 
Emulation 



Tllfl'OMM 1.01 

File-transfer and terminal-emulation software 
Alembic Systems International 
303/799-6223 

WatchMkI.0 

Screen- recording software 

Otherwise 

206/647-9436 

■■vision 3.2 
IBM 3270 terminaJ-emulation software 
5250Vision 1.2 

IBM AS/400 5250 terminal-emulation software 
Conexttons 
508/689-3570 

Database and Information 
Management 



PAPLKSiGtrr 1.5 
Paperless-office tools 
Alembic Systems International 
30 3/799-6223 

Pi \ui. Mr In API 
API for scheduling app 
Sarrus Software 
415/345-8950 

InToijqiI.O 
Update to personal-information manager 
SmartSoft 
414/964-8864 

Objects, Pai^ftths , and Kits 

Dolphin Krr 3.2 1 

Fat-binary and feature upgrade to 

development tools 
Dolphin Technologies 
310/441-9021 



Brave New 
Worlds 

Ok the Net 

It's . . . showtime, folks! Steve announced 

the 1994 NeXTWORLD Expo (scheduled 
for June 20-23) in a posting. Much spec- 
ulation regarding the language of Steve's 
epistle and what it portends (no, not the 
use of the royal "we"; everyone knows 
what that portends). Bigger and better are 
both promised confidently for this year. But 
what is an "Enterprise Object" and what 



3270Pau;ttk 1.0 

ObjectWare tool kit for IBM 3270 mainframe 

connectivity 
5250PA[.f-:nrl.0 
ObjectWare tool kit for IBM AS/400 5250 

connectivity 
Conrxtions 
508/689-3570 

Publishing and Graphics 

fxtraprintcjiqpri 

Printer driver for the Canon CjlO 

LXTRASCANCJIOPIU 

Scanning driver for the Canon CJ10 

kXTRAPRINT Canon Al 

Canon A 1 Rubblejet printer driver 

eXTRAPRINTCIC3O0l\:500 

Printer driver for Canon CLC series 

eXTRAPRINT Laser Canon 

Drivers for NX- and BX-engine printers 

fXTRAPRINT Laser HP 

Drivers for DeskJet and LaserJet senes pri) 

GS Corporation 

415/257-4700 

Science a nd Engin eering 

Magellan 2.0 

Real-time industrial-process control 

ichnoiogies 
33/1/47.08.92.50 

Tools and Languages 

Craw Catcher 

Obicvtivc-C debugger 

White! ight Systems 

4 15/32 1-2 1 85 

Alembic Systems Internationa! 

303/799-6223 






eXMI makes outputtinij pi slides the easiest and 
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Illustration rv Gordon Stitch 

does "Enterprise Objects Framework" 
mean? Has NeXT dropped the OOFS model 
in favor of an RDBMS-based system? ("Come 
one, come all, and see for yourself!'" sez Steve.) 
"Hear about PDO on HP, Sun, DEC, NCR, 
Data General, and others." No mention of 
NEXTIME, though it was promised (well, 
not quite) by Steve for the 1994 Expo in 
a comment at last year's extravaganza. (Of 
course, NeXPs software engineers may 
have had other things on their minds . . . ) 
+ 

Labor omnia vincit In a thread entitled "NeXT 
giving up totally?" the relative merits/lia- 
bilities of programming m Page 10 



sta 

color pick 



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including automatic fib processors, slide mounters, overhead viewers, camera 

backs, and starter film sacks, ill trademarks are the properly of their respective 



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s 




*9 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., C342 
Kentfield, CA 94904 USA 

415.257.4700 

Circle 49 on reader service card 

april 1994 mmm i 



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f9 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., C342 
Kentfield, CA 94904 USA 

415,257.4700 

Circle 30 on reader service card 

8 Wma APRIL 1994 




Talent Spin-off 

Empl oyment trend 

NeXT's personnel ROSTER MAY HAVE shrunk over the past several years, but dedication 
to the NEXTSTEP market remains unflagging, even among the company's dearly departed. 
As salespeople, system engineers, and programmers move on from the company, many ex- 
NeXT employees are remaining in the community, making their way into niches in consult- 
ing, development, and sales within the third-party market. 

Some, like John Pierce, president of Alembic Systems International, have even gone on 
to lead companies. "[This kind of patternl is common when you have a new technology 
and you're creating a new market," says Pierce, formerly NeXT's district sales manager for 
the Rocky Mountain region. "And it's not just a job market, but a market of opportunities. 

There's a lot of money out 
there to be invested, and that 
will only increase. The peo- 
ple in the know are taking 
advantage of it right now." 
NeXT considers this 
emerging trend to be an indi- 
cation of positive growth for 
its market. "It's a sign of really 
good health for any computer 
company when people can find 
growing opportunities within 
the market," says Ron Weiss- 
man, NeXT's director of cor- 
porate marketing. "In emerg- 
ing markets, entrepreneurs cause growth. It certainly happened with Apple." 

Although the NeXT community is more solid than the Macintosh community, Pierce 
says, it's facing a more fundamental paradigm shift, which takes longer to happen. "A lot 
of people don't understand that, but I've learned that you should never say never," he adds. 
Pierce moved to Alembic, a value-added distributor of third-party NEXTSTEP software, 
because it presented an "interesting challenge." Since arriving there last September, he's con- 
centrated on the company's profit centers, leaving the systems-integration game behind to 
develop a distribution and support business for third-party products. Alembic provides global 
distribution for NEXTSTEP software, adding services like a training center based in Den- 
ver and a technical-support hot line for all of its offerings. 

"People like the idea of one-stop shopping - a place where they can call a 1-800 num- 
ber for everything," says Pierce. "We add a lot of value to a sale, and third parties and cus- 
tomers like that." 

Some ex-NeXT employees left because they felt they could do more for the company by 
working in other capacities. For Anne Sawyer, one of the developers of NeXTmail, leaving 
NeXT offered the opportunity to pursue her interests in the end-user community. "I felt! 
could do more toward NeXT's success by working outside of the company," she says. "Devel- 
oping NEXTSTEP applications for the medical community, which is a personal interest of 

Illustration by J. Scott Campbell 



SIM SON 000021 41 



COMMUNITY 



mine, seemed like a good opportunity for me as well as NeXT." 

In her role as senior technical architect at Systemhouse's Object Technology Center (OTC) 
in Boulder, Colorado, Sawyer designs and develops frameworks, kits, and protocols for the 
company's object repository - a core set of reusable objects that are used as the foundation 
of many OTC projects. Much of the technology she creates is deployed for Systemhouse's 
medical customers, ending up in software like an electronic patient chart and physician's 
tool kits that track patient care and help physicians measure the quality of their service. 

NEXTSTEP takes the menial tasks away from developers and lets them concentrate on 
solving the hard problems, Sawyer says. "I've worked in other environments, and I love 
NEXTSTEP." 

Siamak Farah echoes Sawyer's sentiments when he explains how he left NeXT to pursue 
a career as the president of a software company but returned after a mere five-month hiatus. 
Currently NeXT's district sales manager in Los Angeles, Farah started out working for the 
company as the district sales manager for New Jersey. After nearly four years, he left to head 
Stepl, a company that develops dbPublisher, a database-publishing package. 

"If they didn't do NEXTSTEP, I wouldn't have gone," Farah says. "I wanted to help 
NeXT from outside the company. When I talked to Steve about resigning, I said, 'I'm still 
working for you, I just happen to not be on your payroll.' " 

At Step2, Farah worked to reorganize the company, fleshing out its sales force and increas- 
ing revenues. "I always had a development or management job prior to working for NeXT. 
While working there, I gained sales and marketing experience and, at Step2, 1 could use all 
my energy throughout the spectrum - 1 could use several different skill sets at once," he says. 

He also helped direct the company's NEXTSTEP development efforts, demonstrating 
an alpha version of dbPublisher at last year's NeXTWORLD Expo. "In order to focus on 
NEXTSTEP, I even changed the company's name from DCS to Step2, as in the step after the 
next step," Farah adds. 

Eventually, though, he felt that Step2 was spending too much effort on its Windows 
and DOS projects and wanted to work more with NEXTSTEP. "It's not enough to sit from 
afar and hope NeXT makes it," Farah explains. "I want to be in the trenches." 

Others headed into the third-party market for more personal reasons. "I was just very 
tired emotionally,*' says Kris Younger, formerly a system engineer at NeXT. "It's a really cool 
place to work, and I have extremely fond memories of it because of all the friends I worked 
there with. But a lot of people burned out - it happens very easily there because of all the 
emotional energy that's required." 

After a brief stint at Pencom, Younger ended up at Anderson Financial Systems, where 's 
he's working on the development of Writelip, the company's word processor. 

"It's a small company, so I do all kinds of things all together at once: a little engineering, 
a little marketing and advertising, and a little sales," he says. 

Despite a desire to pursue other interests, these ex-NeXT employees express a fundamen- 
tal sense of commitment to NeXT's technology and desire to take part in ensuring its success. 
"1 believe in NEXTSTEP ... and I enjoy working in the NeXT community - they're heady 
people," says Alembic's Pierce. $ 

by P A U L C U R T H Y S 



m 






maa 



... ■ 






•tlW 



::-y 






- 











■ .. ■ 

.. .,-■ t 



Faster printing than a 
| PostScript cartridge. Higher 
quality graphics than a NeXT 
laser printer. eXTRAPRINT from 
GS Corporation gets better 
performance out of your 
Hewlett-Packard and Canon 
printers than you ever imagined 
| possible. 

Now there's no need to purchase 
expensive PostScript cartridges 
just to use your current 
printers as NEXTSTEP 
peripherals. Just install 
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printer, and print! No need to 
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All trademarks m the property of their respective 

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M 



929 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., C342 
Kentfield, CA 94904 USA 

415.257.4700 



Circle 55 on reader service card 

jpprr 100,-1 uemunnin 



SIMSON00002142 



I I I I I V 



^ On the Net 

under NEXSTEP were debated (yes, 
again). Is NEXTSTEP really object- 
oriented at the OS level? How do 
you define "simple app" vs. "com- 
plex app," and how difficult should 
each be to write? Some seem to get 
it, while others just complain (they 
seem to yearn for a development 
environment in which your average 
preteen can write a mission-critical 
custom app). And just what exactly 
is the relationship between Mr. Jobs 
and Mr. Christ anyway? 

Zee crystal ball shows ail, A somewhat 
related thread: "The REAL future 
operating systems" debated (quite 
acrimoniously at points) the relative 
ease of porting NEXTSTEP vs. Win- 



dows NT to other platforms. (BTW, 
fun to see some Microsoft employ- 
ees joining us on comp.sys.next.) 
Ages into the thread, someone point- 
ed out that portability is only one 
measure of the value of an OS. Most 
agree, however, that Windows is the 
"digital equivalent of a neon-infested 
suburban strip." 

Survival of the fattest. Worries in an- 
other thread about the way a certain 
very large publisher of OSes and app- 
lication software competes. What's 
the line between "agressive compe- 
tition" and illegal competition? What 
are the merits of unregulated com- 
petition? How free is our "free mar- 
ket" anyway? Do thev really chain 



employees to their desks and only 
allow them to read company docs? 

Jungle fever. The most popular 
NEXTSTEP Flavor of the Month 

seems to be "Tropical Reptile." Var- 
ious Gecko sightings, various specs 
posted. What do hardware bench- 
marks mean anyway? Is a Gecko a 
better deal than a Pentium PC? And 
what does NEXTSTEP in 24-bit 
color look like after undergoing 
"color recovery" to run on the 8-bit 
display system on Gecko? Wildly di- 
vergent opinions on this, so caveat 
emptor. Above all, "When/where can 
I get one?" Strong consensus emerges 
that HP charges astronomical prices 
for system upgrades, peripherals, and 



other aftermarket add-ons. Read the 
fine print. Critical question for those 
who care about Life's most impor- 
tant issue - aesthetics - is: If Motor- 
ola hardware is black and Intel is 
called white, what color is the lizard? 
Red? Green? Or is it a chameleon? 

Nota bene. In Open Systems Today 
(January 10, 1994) NEXTSTEP was 

very favorably written up in two 
articles (the poster seemed almost 
surprised). Second article contained 
this interesting quote: "... keep in 
mind that COSE is a spec, Taligent's 
Pink and Microsoft's Cairo are vapoi; 
but NextStep is a product." $ 

bv Steve Fricke 



*8£ 



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Drawing, transformation and 
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A single fax modem should handle data ielebil, Supra, and others. And it's sold by 

and faxes. But switching between them is a people who live end breathe HeXT - for clear 

hjgfi-artention hassle. insight, answers, service, and support. 
Unless you're using NXFax. It's the best way to get the most fox 

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Circle 79 on reader service card 




SIM SON 00002 143 




NEWS 



Elonex in January signed up to 
be NeXT's first European OEM. 
According to a report filed by 
the IDG News Service, Elonex 
will ship a new line of high-end 
Intel '486 and Pentium machines 
preloaded with NEXTSTEP 3.2. 
The line will feature a specially- 
designed accelerated-graphics 
subsystem and improved I/O, 
the company said. Prices for a 
user system start at £2775 
($4162), while developer sys- 
tems start at £4575 ($6862). 

NeXT, in response to customer 
requests, has posted a fat-bina- 
ry version of NewsGrazer on the 
Net. The software, originally 
developed by Jayson Adams 
when he worked at NeXT, offers 
users an easy yet powerful way 
to access the Usenet news groups. 
The application is not support- 
ed by NeXT. NewsGrazer can 
be found on the archive server 
cs.orst.edu under /pub/next/sub- 
missions/NewsGrazer75.tar.Z. 

Metrosoft in February released 
an improved version of the API 
to its MetroTools 2.1 utility 
package, which allows users to 
create commercial-grade GUI 
utilities, The package also in- 
cludes header files and full source 
code for a MetroTools mod- 
ule. Metrosoft: 619/488-9411, 
619/488-3045 fax; info@met- 
rosoft.com. 

ITS in February released as share- 
ware its ClassMaker NEXT- 
STEP-documentation generator. 
The software, which parses head 
files and writes out both .m and 
RTF documentation of classes, 
protocols, and categories, is de- 
signed to reduce the time it takes 
developers to format project 
docs. ClassMaker is available 
on cs.orst.edu and sonata.cc. 
purdue.edu. ITS: 312/474-7700; 
info@its.com. 

Dancing Bear Enterprises is in 

motion, having moved its NeXT- 
'. equipment brokerage business 
to Vail, Colorado. The compa- 
ny has also become an autho- 
rized [continued on pace 15| 



Jobs scenario: 1 million Son of DBKit is bom 

seats bv end of 1996 



b y Dan L a v i n 

Describing "one possible scenario" 
for the outcome of the race among 
object-oriented operating systems, 



NEXTSTEP wins wire-to-wire 



Unit sales of object-oriented operatin; 
NeXT Taftgent 
1993 " 
1994 
1995 
1 



Total installed 
base after '96 



75,000 I 

100,000 (. 

300,000' 25,000 250,000 

aSOO.OOO 2 75,000 500,000 

975,000 100,000 750,000 



Soma: NeXT 



150,000 
- 100,000 



NeXT CEO Steve Jobs claimed 
during his keynote speech at the 
East Coast Developer Conference 
that NEXTSTEP would reach an 
installed base of one million seats 
well ahead of Microsoft's 
Cairo - and that a third 
contender, Taligent, would 
be left in the dust. 

The scenario assumes 
steadily growing sales 
for NEXTSTEP over the 
next three years. It also 
assumes that Microsoft 
and Taligent will not ship 
their competitive prod- 
ucts [see Sales, pagi 15] 



systems 

Cairo 



OpenStep 
OpenStep 



by Lee Sherman 

Redwood City - Bringing together 
custom objects, user-friendly front 
ends, and legacy database appli- 
cations, NeXT will introduce En- 
terprise Objects Framework as 
the successor to DBKit at NeXT- 
WORLD Expo in June. 

The current DBKit is limited to 
user-interface objects that display- 
data in views. Developers can't 
easily add the custom objects used 
to model a particular enterprise. 

"We saw that as a glaring short- 
coming," said Van Simmons, pres- 
ident of VNP Software. "NeXT 
needed to find a way for develop- 
ers to be able to take their custom 
objects and tie them to the world- 



Color portables come into view 



by Dan L a v i n 

Washington, D.C. - Talus Com- 
puter created a stir at the East 
Coast Developer Conference in 
January by showing a NEXTSTEP 
portable running in color for the 
first time. NeXT is also working 
on its own solution to portable 
color, according to sources. 

NEXTSTEP has always required 
a color portable to run. The envi- 
ronment, however, appears in black 
and white because portables gen- 



erally have eight- bit color, where- 
as NEXTSTEP requires 16-bit 
color. The Talus color driver sim- 
ulates 16 bits of color using the 
eight bits available. 

The company is negotiating 
with at least one NEXTSTEP OEM 
for use of the driver in a color 
system, according to Steve Sarich, 
president of Talus. 

Sources at NeXT said the com- 
pany is not interested in the Talus 
driver but is currently developing 
several approaches that will solve 



the problem. "We looked at the 
Talus driver and found it to be too 
muddy, with unacceptable char- 
acter resolution," said an engineer 
at NeXT. 

NeXT is working on two solu- 
tions for inclusion in NEXTSTEP 
3.3, accord- |srr. Portable, page I5| 



class NEXTSTEP UI objects." 

The Enterprise Objects Frame- 
work consists of an open API that 
allows developers to plug in their 
own custom objects and swap out 
different layers in favor of third- 
party alternatives. It also addresses 
long-standing performance prob- 
lems and bugs related to memory 
management, according to sources 
who have seen the product in its 
early stages. 

"One of the problems with the 
existing kit is that the user-inter- 
face layer and the access layer are 
tied together in a proprietary way. 
There are limitations in how you 
can retrieve information from a 
database, process it, and then pre- 
sent it," said Dan Crimmins, assis- 
tant vice-president of First Nation- 
al Bank of Chicago. 

Crimmins said he often needs 
to perform analysis on his data 
using custom objects before that 
data is displayed, something not 
possible with DBKit. 

Customers who have already 
devised workarounds to the prob- 
lems called the update long over- 
due. "The thing that NeXT brings 
to this is legitimacy," said Crim- 
mins. "It sets a standard and direc- 
tion so that a |see dbkjt, pace 15 1 



Pages breaks WP mold 



PD0 finds new homes 



by Paul C ij r t i i o y s 

Redwood City - With the immi- 
nent release of PDO 2.0 (Portable 
Distributed Objects), NeXT con- 
tinues its drive to develop a broad 
crossplatform presence. 

Scheduled for shipment in May, 
the new version will add support 
for the Solaris and SunOS plat- 
forms and include new features 
prompted by customer feedback. 

Other platforms should arrive 
on the PDO scene shortly: Data 
General is readying a release of 



PDO that will run on its operating 
system, and NeXT has indicated 
that support for AT&T Global In- 
formation Systems (formerly NCR) 
and Digital Equipment Corpora- 
tion is in the works. 

The increased backing for PDO 
was good news to many vendors. 
Supporting Sun's platforms in PDO 
2.0 "will help many customers in 
the transition to OpenStep," said 
Jim Green, director of object prod- 
ucts at SunSoft. "Many are inter- 
ested in working with NeXT and 
Sun machines in [see pdo, page 1 5] 



b y L l f. 
S 1 1 B R M A N 

San Diego, CA - 

Word processing 
on NEXTSTEP 
may never be the 
same. At press 
time, Pages Soft- 
ware had entered 
the final testing 
phase for its un- 
conventional doc- 
ument creation software and was 
promising shipment by March I . 

The software, three years in the 
making, takes a new approach to 
word processing that doesn't in- 
clude such conventional tools as 
rulers, font panels, and style sheets. 

Pages is being positioned as an 




In Pages boiler room, coders and testers sweat out final hours. 

easy-to-use word processor in 
light of NeXT's de-emphasis on 
publishing and a lack of available 
word-processing software for 
NEXTSTEP. 

"The early view of the product 
was that it was more of a publish- 
ing product," 6sb P«$, pace 12] 



SIMSON00002144 



Sarins Introduces a Powerful 
Idea in Scheduling. 



persoiraJ.tMiii — ~ 



■iwa i 



^^51^3 



3J§T 

" August, 1883 



Id* 



Bi»*tel at Acfatpho's win HI aid fiotol 



i2 Staff Meeting 



I 

,J X3 RTaE Training course, Part IV 



I j) Rral assembly 

I b! Pre -cwtomer testing 



.;:■ c ) bitatetim 
— ! 



mmz- ^wm\ 



■ ■ '. ■ f rs . - 



1^ Flapjack's 



AtoTrtisi 



jj / Status fteport 

Jj / First contract draft for R6tB 





Simplicity. 



Other scheduling software 
promises you power — if you're 
willing to give up ease of use. We 
developed Pencil Me In'" because 
you told us you needed both. 

The ROI of Croup Scheduling 

Enterprises from small businesses 
to the Fortune 1000 are discover- 
ing that group scheduling gives 
them a tangible return on their 
investment. Why? Because people 
who work in groups spend a large 
part of each work day coordi- 
nating meetings, juggling action 
items, and hunting down con- 
ference rooms. Group scheduling 
software makes these tasks more 
efficient for individuals and for 
whole organizations. 

Power and Ease of Use 

Pencil Me In is the leader in group 
scheduling on NEXTSTEP" for a 
simple reason. It's the only 
product that gives you the power 



of true enterprise scheduling with 
the simplicity of a paper time 
planner. 

API to Integrate Custom Apps 

And now, with the Pencil Me In 
API, programmers can integrate 
Pencil Me In with mission-critical 
applications on their users' desk- 
tops. And that means, quite 
simply, greater leverage. 

Call Us for a Free Demo 

Our customers love Pencil Me In. 
We think you will too. Call us at 
1-800-995-1963 for a demo of 
Pencil Me In. And simplify 
everyone's life. 

Pencil Me In 

Group Scheduling for NEXTSTEP. 

Sarrus Software, Inc. 

565 Pilgrim Drive, Suite C 
Foster City, CA 94404 

SARRUS ( 4i5i345895 ° 

SOFTWARE mfo@saiTus.com 




<§ Copyright 1993, Sarrus Software, Inc. All Rights Reserved Pencil Me In is a trademark of Sarrus Software, Inc. 
NEXTSTEP is a trademark of NeXT Computer. Inc 



Circle 73 on reader service card 



Training trainers 



CHANNEL 
SLEUTH 



In his travels, 
the Sleuth has 
seen a growing 
need for NEXT- 
STEP training. 
But he has also 
discovered that 
customers don't 
always know 
where to turn for help. 

To find out what training might 
be available, the Sleuth turned 
first to NeXT for answers. NeXT 
offers a series of courses at all 
levels of NEXTSTEP expertise. 
NeXT was more than happy 
to provide him with details about 
the company's own programs, 
including pricing, schedules, and 
course listings. 

When asked for other options, 
only two other firms, System- 
house and Pencom, were said to 
supply training comparable to 
the training provided by NeXT. 
As is his wont, the Sleuth 



probed further, but, after an ex- 
haustive search through his data- 
base, the NeXT representative 
was unable to provide a list of 
certified partners. 

With the limited amount of 
available trainers skilled in NEXT- 
STEP, NeXT needs help if it ex- 
pects to populate the world with 
developers skilled in Objective- 
C and the AppKit. The program 
for certified training partners is 
a great way to get that help, but 
NeXT needs to make its technical- 
services staff more aware of it. 

In the end, it matters less if 
NeXT supplies the trainers than 
if the training is readily and wide- 
ly available. 

NeXT Computer can be con- 
tacted at 415/366-0900, 800/ 
879-6398. 

Each month, the Sleuth will look 
at a different aspect of NEXT- 
STEP distribution. 




XTSTEPgoes on the 



air 




Quebec, Canada - Planon Telex- 
pertise has released FeedBuilder/- 
M, a NEXTSTEP application for 
controlling peripheral devices such 
as VCRs, videodisc players, and 
lighting equipment. 

The software serves mission -crit- 
ical needs in broadcasting, theatri- 
cal production, and the motion- 
picture industry by controlling 
real-time, sequential, manual, or 
triggered events. Because Feed- 



|from page 11] 
said Larry Spelhaug, CEO of Pages 
Software. "Internally, we always 
assumed that it would have full 
word-processing capability but 
that wasn't perceived outside the 
company." 

Pages' extensive feature set, 
roughly equivalent to the latest ver- 
sions of WordPerfect and Micro- 
soft Word, was entirely imple- 
mented in object-based code. The 
software uses design templates to 
ease document creation. 

Spelhaug attributed the long 
delay to having to write 90 per- 
cent of the software's objects from 
scratch. Now, though, "extensions 
to the producr should go very 
quickly and support the notion of 
fast development using object sys- 
tems," he said. 

Pages is available on floppy 
disk or a special CD-ROM that 
includes a ten-minute self-running 



Builder is implemented in software, 
broadcast facilities aren't locked 
into proprietary hardware. 

FeedBuilder/M can be custom- 
ized for individual sites. Prices 
start at around $22,000 for both 
software and hardware. 

Planon Telexperttse can be con- 
tacted at 1370 Joliot-Curie #708, 
Boucherville, Quebec, Canada 
J4B7L9. 514/449-6481; steph- 
ane@planon.qc.ca.^p 



demo of the program created with 
WatchMe screen-recording soft- 
ware from Otherwise (see "Watch- 
Me cuts user-training costs"). 

The CD-ROM also includes 
additional templates and document 
examples not available on the 
floppy-disk version. 

Pages sells for $795 and comes 
with four design models: Victory, 
April, Writer, and Presents. 

The company is offering a ship- 
ping special for $595 that includes 
Pages bundled with one year of 
technical support, one additional 
design model, and a free upgrade 
to the next version of the program. 
If purchased individually, these 
items would total SI 065. 

Educational pricing is set at 
$195, direct from Pages. Devel- 
oper pricing and site licenses are 
also available. Pages can be reached 
at 619/492-9050, 619/492-9124 
fax; info@pages.com. % 



12 



APRIL 1994 



SIMSON00002145 



NeXTWORLO extra 



Virtuoso 2.0 ropes WatehMe cuts user-training costs 

in new feature set 



by Eliot Bergson 

Richardson, TX - Using the best 
technology to come out of Sili- 
con Prairie, Altsys rounded up 
final beta testers in February for 
Virtuoso 2.0, its revamped 
design and publishing package. 

"It has great potential," said 
Daniel Wasserman, a beta user at 
Light Printing, a New York-based 
service bureau. "It compares favor- 
ably with Adobe Illustrator 5.0." 

Along with innovative path fea- 
tures and a multipage capability 
that has long topped users' wish 
lists, Altsys enhanced Virtuoso's 



crossplatform compatibility and 
gave it the power to write native 
EPS files that the software can 
parse and edit. 

"Most of the new features came 
about from a cowboy attitude: 'I 
can do that, '"said Lorin Rivers, 
NEXTSTEP sales manager at Altsys. 

The new version is set for an 
April release, with a suggested 
retail price of $995. Users of Vir- 
tuoso 1.0 will be able to upgrade 
for $149. Educational pricing of 
a CD-ROM version, with partial 
documentation, was being set at 
press time. 

Altsys: 214/680-2060.^ 




Virtuoso 2.0 will include multipage support and the ability to create and edit EPS files, 

Apps provide more options 
for NS teleconuiiunications 



if Lee Sherman 

NEXTSTEP users have two new 
options for connecting to the out- 
side worid with the announcement 
of a pair of new telecommunica- 
tions applications created exclu- 
sively for the NEXTSTEP envi- 
ronment 

TeleComrn from Zion Software 
& Consulting provides a graphical 
front-end to terminal emulation, 
modem communications and file- 
transfer protocols. It allows file 
transfers using X-, Y-, and ZMO- 
DEM protocols, as well as VT100- 
and IBM PC-terminal emulation. 
The app also includes APIs for 
custom data handling. 

TipTop Telecommunication 
from TipTop Software provides 
VT102, VT220, and ANSI termi- 
nal emulation, and allows multi- 
ple modem connections and shell 
sessions. Like TeleComrn, the app 



supports X-, Y-, and ZMODEM 

transfers, and has an API that can 
integrate external transfer proto- 
cols into TipTop. 

In related news, Software Ven- 
tures announced that MicroPhone, 
once the lone telecommunications 
app under NEXTSTEP, has entered 
beta testing for a port to Intel. lite 
company is also planning to fol- 
low NEXTSTEP onto SPARC and 
HP PA-RISC. 

TeleComrn costs S92 and is 
available from Alembic Systems 
International at 303/799-6223; 
info@alembic.com. 

TipTop can be purchased for 
Si 85, and the company can be 
reached at 301/656-3837; tiptop% 
luka@umiacs.umd.edu. 

MicroPhone sells for $99, and 
can be upgraded to the Intel ver- 
sion for $49 when that version is 
released. Software Ventures: 510/ 
644-3232.$ 




SHIP 
SHAPE 



by Lei 
Sherman 

Bcllingham,WA- 

With the shipment 

of WatehMe, 

screen-recording 

software for 

NEXTSTEP from 

Otherwise, seeing is truly believing. 

By capturing all activity and 
sounds from a user's screen, Wateh- 
Me allows customer-training sites, 
educators, and presentation pro- 
fessionals to create demonstration 
or instructional tapes that can be 
stored on disk for later playback. 
Tapes can also include voice anno- 
tation. 
Editing features in the package 



allow users to trim unwanted ma- 
terial, merge soundtracks from 
different recording sessions, add 
opening and closing screens, and 
combine tapes together into a sin- 
gle presentation. 

According to Otherwise, the 
program can cut down on train- 
ing costs by eliminating the need 
for training personnel. Tapes can 



be stored on a server or sent by 
e-mail and accessed by users as 
required. 

WatehMe is available in a multi- 
architecture version for $110. Users 
of Intel computers will need a sound 
card and microphone to add voice 
annotations to WatehMe tapes. 

Otherwise can be reached at 
2067647-9435. $ 




WatehMe brings screen-recording capability to NEXTSTEP. 



Emerald brings New image for RDR 

new facets to 



image 




JUllJ. 



by Paul Curthoys 

Torrance, CA - A new image-pro- 
cessing app has been released, 
swelling the ranks of an already- 
crowded segment of the NEXT- 
STEP market. Emerald Image T(X)1 
from Gemstone Systems, howev- 
er, sets its sights on users with de- 
manding, high-end requirements 
for images that reach hundreds of 
megabytes in size. 

"We aim more for a research 
environment, rather than desktop 
publishing," said Lyndon Hardy, 
president of Gemstone, "where 
people work with big images that 
have high depth and lots of bits 
per pixel." 

The company's main clients 
have been government customers 
that work with satellite photog- 
raphy, as well as medical users in- 
volved with radiology and other 
detailed medical imaging process- 
es, explained Hardy. 

Emerald approaches the prob- 
lem of manipulating large images 
by letting users modify a file, place 
it in the background, and contin- 
ue working on other tasks while 
the app processes the alterations. 
Shipment of the app was delayed 
almost a year to solve this prob- 
lem, Hardy said. 

Emerald also provides standard 
image-editing features and supports 
a variety'" of image formats, includ- 
ing Landsat, raw, SPOT, and more 
common formats like TIFF. 

Emerald Image Tool costs $400 
per user. Gemstone: 310/3704557; 
info@gemstone.com. $ 



by Paul Curthoys 

McLean, VA - NEXTSTEP users 
have a new option for develop- 
ing presentation graphics with 
the shipment in March of RDR's 
©image 1.0. 

"@image is a presentation pack- 
age that is equivalent to and bet- 
ter than Concurrence," said Bob 
Ward, senior vice-president at 
RDR. "It has more functionality, 
and it's priced toward the end-user 
market - it's much more afford- 
able." 

In addition to its slide-show 
capability, ©image also acts as a 



drawing package, providing a full 
range of drawing and layout tools. 
Other key features include speak- 
er notes that appear only on the 
presenter's slide and the ability to 
show presentations over a network. 

"I was pretty impressed," said 
Jason Beaver, a beta user of 
©image and an engineer at Van- 
guard Software. "It was faster than 
Concurrence, and I liked the user 
interface." 

©image runs $399, and educa- 
tional, government, and volume 
discounts are available. RDR can 
be contacted at 703/591-9517; 
info@rdr.com. % 



StayLuTouch 2.01 ships 



by Paul Curthoys 

Milwaukee, WN - Expanding its 
presence in the market for address- 
book software, SmartSoft in Feb- 
ruary announced the release of 
StaylnTouch 2.01, an updated ver- 
sion with a variety of enhancements. 

Among its other new features, 
StaylnTouch now lets you drag in 
documents for automatic distri- 
bution to a group mailing list, print 
hard copies of address hooks, place 
bar codes on labels, perform com- 
pound searches, and include home 
phone numbers in your address 
book. 

The new release also provides 
performance improvements and 
bug fixes, according to SmartSoft. 

The list price for StaylnTouch 
2.01 is $150 for each user license, 
with a student price of $85. A 
fully licensable demonstration ver- 
sion is available on the archive 




& ; M3JIW «*j 





t 


'Mfdwsra 'Munch 


;;--!! 


t-SOO-SCREAM 
loosiarvlnj Artist Avenue 
lilishatrour, Norway 


MB 








edwartOscrs sm.com 















SmartSoft' s updated version of its address- 
book software sports a raft of new features. 

server cs.orst.edu. 

SmartSoft can be reached at 
414/964-8864; Info@SmartSoft. 
COM. $ 



SIM SON 00002 146 



Clean. 
Comfortable. 
Compatible. 




Everything 
you need in 
ia word 



WriteUp 



>rocessor. 




Clean. The first thing you'll 
notice about WriteUp is its 
elegant design. Start typing 
and you'll see that everything is 
exactly where you'd expect it to 
be— including headers and 
footers. That's because 
WriteUp is the first word 
processor designed for 
NEXTSTEP from the ground up 
by seasoned NEXTSTEP 
developers. You'll notice the 
difference right away, espe- 
cially if you've been struggling 
with software that was really 
designed for other environ- 
ments. And over time, you'll 
appreciate how WriteUp's clean 
design translates into trouble- 
free operation. 

Comfortable. WriteUp is 
writer-friendlv. Whether vou're 

J J 

a confirmed NEXTSTEPer or a 
recent convert, you'll feel right 
at home with WriteUp's full set 



of cursor and function keys, 
keyboardable text selection, 
and drag-and-drop color and 
graphics. WriteUp lets you 
focus on your thoughts, not the 
process of getting them down 
on paper. 

Compatible. The world 
doesn't need yet another 
document format, so WriteUp 
doesn't lock you into one. 
Instead, WriteUp supports 
existing document standards as 
part of its normal operations. 
Throughout the year, we'll be 
releasing DIBs — filters that will 
allow you to read and write 
documents— for most major file 
formats, including WordPerfect 
and Microsoft Word. 

WriteUp. Everything you need 
in a word processor. For under 
$200. To order your copy, call 
215-653-0911 today or send 
Email to WriteUp@afs.com. 



JSL 



909 Sumneytown Pike • Suite 207 • Springhouse, PA 19477 
Phone: 215 653 0911 • FAX: 215 653 0711 • Email: Info@afs.com 

8 Copy-tight 1994, Anderson Financial Systems, to. AMghts Resewd. IVntellp, the Writel'p logo, PasteUp, the PasteUp logo, and the 

APS logo ace ail trademarks of Andersen financial Systems. NEXTSTEP is a registered trademark oi NeXT Computer, Inc. Word Perfect is 

a registered trademad of WordPerfect Corporation, Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation 



Circle 7 on reader service card 



BUSINESS NEWS 



First steps for OpenStep 



h y D A N L A v I N 

Mountain View, CA - The effort 
to incorporate OpenStep into 
Solaris is well underway, accord- 
ing to Sun Microsystems. 

"We are taking this project very 
seriously. Work is in progress, 
and NeXT and Sun engi 
neers are in contact on a 
daily basis," said Jim 
Green, director of ob- 
ject products at SunSoft. 

Sun received the prom- 
ised NEXTSTEP source code 
some time ago, and there have 
been no surprises that would delay 
the project, according to Green. 
Sun will announce its product plans 
and timetables at the Solaris Devel- 
oper Conference on April 5. 




There is a staff in place at Sun 
working on OpenStep, and the 
company is adding to it every day, 
with several positions yet to be 
filled, The group is made up of ex- 
ternal hires and voluntary transfers 
from other Sun groups, including 
a number of "major contrib- 
utors among senior staff" 
from inside Sun, accord- 
ing to Green. The head 
engineers on the project 
report directly to Bud 
Tribble, SunSoft's vice-pres- 
ident for object products. 
Right now, the work is being 
divided between Sun and NeXT 
engineers, but plans call for bring- 
ing key third parties and customers 
into the process once the announce- 
ment is made in April. ^ 




Moresu 



among Big 6 firms 



by Dan Lavin 

Toronto, Ontario - With the addi- 
tion of Andersen Consulting, Can- 
ada, NeXT's Object Channel last 
month gained a piece of one of the 
world's largest technology-con- 
sulting companies. The two firms 
said they will target companies 
that require mission-critical appli- 
cations in the health-care, telecom- 
munications, and financial-services 
industries. 

In the deal, Andersen becomes 
an authorized integrator for NeXT 
and preferred supplier for NEXT- 
STEP in the Canadian market. 
NeXT will also join Andersen's 
Business Integration Partnership 
(BIP) program. 

"Andersen Consulting is a 
leader in applying object technol- 
ogy. Our relationship with NeXT 
allows us to work closely with a 
creative technology provider to 
serve our Canadian clients," said 
Stephen Elliott, managing partner 
of technology integration services 
at Andersen, 

A source with knowledge of the 
Canadian customer base said that 
Andersen adopted NEXTSTEP in 
response to demands for support 
from key customers in its practice. 

The BIP program is a group of 
hardware and software relation- 
ships that Andersen describes as 
critical to delivering value-added 
business solutions, Besides NeXT, 
BIP includes Sun Microsystems, 



Hewlett-Packard, Sybase, and Sym- 
bol Technologies. 

Andersen Consulting, Canada, 
is the Canadian practice of Ander- 
sen Consulting, a worldwide man- 
agement and consulting organi- 
zation. * 



NeXT runs 
for border 

Redwood City ~ Riding on the 
strength of several, large sales south 
of the border. NeXT plans to open 
an office in Mexico City. 

The country will be treated as 
a distinct-sales territory with its 
own country manager, according 
to Warren Weiss, NeXT's vice- 
president of North American sales 
and marketing. 

"There are great opportunities 
here in Mexico. We have several 
customers already, and we are 
opening the office with a new big 
customer," Weiss said. 

Sources identify the customer as 
PEMEX, the giant national ener- 
gy company, which is planning to 
purchase several thousand NEXT- 
STEP units. NEXTSTEP is already 
localized for the Spanish language. 

The staff of the new office has 
yet to be named. The country man- 
ager will report to Weiss. $ 



14 



APRIL J 994 



SIM SON 00002 147 



HeXTWQRLD E X T I! A 




reseller of Quix Computerware's 
Daydream hardware add-on. 
Daydream enables NeXTstations 
to run Macintosh System 7.1 and 
application software. Dancing 
Bear: 303/479-9101; tim@danc- 
ingbear.com, 

IFE Technologies has released 
Magellan 2.0, an app that pro- 
vides real-time industrial-pro- 
j cess control. The package, which 
is designed to control material 
processes involving temperature, 
pressure, digital controls, and 
safety interlocks, can be used in 
semiconductor, thin-film, and 
ceramic production or research, 
according to the company. Mag- 
ellan costs $9990 for a single- 
user license. A development kit 
can be purchased for $4990, 
and educational pricing is avail- 
able. IFE: 33/1/47.08.92.50; p 
ife.fdn.org. 

WhiteLight Systems has lever- 
aged the object-oriented design 
expertise it gained from work- 
ing on its WhiteLight Engineer 
enterprise-modeling software 
into the pivotal games market, 
releasing Mission Critical Soli- 
taire 1 .0. The company claims 
that the software will be a com- 
pelling alternative for Windows 
users because "Solitaire is the 
app most used on Windows." 
The fat-binary game sells for 
S35.WhiteLightr415/321-2183, 
415/321-2083 fax; info@white- 
light.com. 

Leading Market Technologies 

in January released TickBase, a 
UNIX server for rapid storage 
and retrieval of time-critical 
transaction data. The package, 
which was primarily developed 
under NEXTSTEP, is targeted 
at users of real-time financial data 
from sources such as Reuters, 
Telerate, and Knight-Ridder. It 
is available on a variety of UNIX 
platforms and sells for between 
$500 and $2000 per seat, depend- 
ing on volume and platform. 
Leading Market: 617/494-4747. 

Alembic Systems International 

announced in January that it 
has launched a hardware-leas- 
ing program that offers several 
different Intel systems for NEXT- 
STEP users. The company leas- 
es two basic systems, a 66MHz 
'486 and a 60MHz Pentium, 
that come preloaded with NEXT- 
STEP and have a variety of con- 
figuration options for RAM, 
hard-disk size, and system de- 
sign. Alembic: 303/799-6223, 
800/452-7608, 303/799-1709 
fax; info@alembic.com. 



SaleS [FROM PAGE 11] 

until mid-1995. By this reckoning, 
NEXTSTEP reaches one million 
seats by the end of 1996, while 
Microsoft finishes that year with 
an installed base of 750,000, and 
Taligent staggers in at just 100,000 
seats (see chart). 

"We are the leader in object- 
oriented solutions," said Warren 
Weiss, NeXT's vice-president of 
sales and marketing. "We firmly 
believe that these numbers are real- 
istic. Our partnerships will make 
the volume happen." 

"The NeXT numbers are good, 
aggressive, achievable targets," 



agreed an informed source who 
closely follows the market for 
object-oriented operating systems. 
"But the Taligent and Microsoft 
numbers significantly understate 
the marketing strength of these 
companies." 

Microsoft and IBM have long- 
term relationships with a large num- 
ber of important corporate ac- 
counts, which makes some number 
of large wins probable, regardless 
of the technical merits. And regard- 
less of how late their products ship, 
these competitors are likely to 
attract third-party developers in 
numbers that are disproportion- 



ate to the size of their installed base. 

"Look, IBM itself will be a 
100,000-unit site for Taligent right 
off the bat," the source said. 

Among the one million NEXT- 
STEP seats in the Jobs scenario 
are 450,000 attributed to Open- 
Step, the object-oriented compo- 
nent of SunSoft Solaris that is ex- 
pected to begin shipping in 1995. 
While it is expected that all future 
Solaris buyers will receive Open- 
Step as part of the software, many 
won't actually use it. Therefore, 
the number of users who install 
OpenStep may shrink the actual 
installed base. ^ 



DBKlt | FROM PAGE 11| 

third-party supplier might be able 
to supply a solution to multiple 
customers without having to cus- 
tomize it for each one. This is the 
sort of framework that is required 



for vertical-market applications 
to build on." 

Developers weary of the ever- 
changing shifts in strategy coming 
from NeXT are encouraged by the 
company's increasingly focused 



approach. "Enterprise Objects are 
a very natural outgrowth of mis- 
sion-critical custom apps," said 
Simmons. "It manifests a realiza- 
tion of what mission-critical cus- 
tom apps really imply."^ 



Portable fcmttmii] 

ing to the source. One is an eight- 
bit color version of NEXTSTEP 
that will open up the operating 
system to a much wider range of 
platforms. A large segment of the 
SPARC workstation line is based 
on eight-bit color, and this solution 
is required to complete NeXT's 



port to these machines. "Eight-bit 
will also open up a large universe 
of lower-cost Super VGA-equipped 
Intel machines to NEXTSTEP," 
said the source. 

The second solution will be 
drivers for the newest true 16-bit 
color portables, which are due out 
later this year. This approach will 



be relatively simple, according to 
NeXT, once the machines are avail- 
able - but they are expected to be 
expensive at first. 

NeXT expects to demonstrate 
its color-portable options at NeXT- 
WORLD Expo in June and make 
them available in NEXTSTEP 3.3 
later this year.^ 



PUU [FROM PAGE 11] 

the same configuration, and PDO 
allows them to run NEXTSTEP on 
clients and Solaris on servers." 

Expanding its support for 
NeXT's technology, Data Gener- 
al at press time was shooting for 
a March release of a version of 
PDO 1.0 that would bring its DG- 
UX into the NEXTSTEP fold. 

"The performance is very good," 
said Christine Wallis, director of 
marketing at Data General. "We 
have a number of customers who 
are very interested because, as 
groovy as [NEXTSTEP'S] desktop 
tools are, they frequently need 
more horsepower." 

A 2.0 version of PDO for DG- 
UX should follow quickly now 
that NeXT has completed its up- 
graded version, Wallis added. 

Negotiations for ports to AT&T 
Global and Digital Equipment are 
underway, according to Kate Smith, 
NeXT's PDO product manager. 
Finished products would appear 
approximately six months after 
an agreement is signed. "We're 
actively talking to people," Smith 
said. "We're interested in getting 
PDO on a lot of platforms." 

Smith added that pricing for 
PDO will remain equivalent across 
each new platform to which the 
software is ported. % 



Technology key in world of spy versus spy 



Li Sullivan was as shocked as anyone by the Rick Ames fiasco. It's as if Micro- 
soft had a mole inside the NeXT labs - them's no way of knowing what's been 
compromised. On the other hand, it's not a surprise that Ames was brought 
down by a poor grasp of technology. The man had access to the best computer 
technology in the world, yet the incriminating evidence was found on a used rib- 
bon from a dot-matrix printer in his trash. If we're worried about trade craft, you 
have to assume the Russians are already on to dot-matrix printing. 

Besides chalk marks on mailboxes, there was plenty of other news out of 
northwest Washington, D.C., the location of January's East 
Coast Developer Conference. Tensions in the Intel hardware 
market flared into the open between the established OEMs 
and the noncerthled box movers. One of the latter, eCesys, 
came to the show with low-level NeXT approval to display a 
custom-configured workstation. But when NeXT Director of 
Strategic Partnerships Paul Vais spotted the eCesys ma- 
chine, he demanded it be torn down on the spot. Later, Vais 
took his turn on the conference program to tell customers 
that they should avoid the "little guys," 

Tempers were also in evidence over the eight-bit color 
driver that Talus proudly demonstrated on a no-name note- 
book. NeXT considers the driver to be inferior technology, 
but at least one of the strategic OEMs, NEC, is interested 
enough that it may offer ft on Versa notebooks. Sullivan is 
uncertain how much of the annoyance being expressed in 
the NeXT comer is the result of long-running tension be- 
tween the company and Talus and how much is a legitimate 
technology difference. Certainly, the Talus dithered color is less than perfect, but 
ft appears to be serviceable for Sullivan's purposes. 

Negotiations went down to the wire over announcements of third-party ports. 
Digital Equipment Corporation was not happy that NeXT chose not to 
announce a DEC-supported Alpha port of NEXTSTEP. DEC had intended to 
push its DEXpcXL product heavily because ft lets you use a Pentium or '486 now 
and upgrade to an Alpha chip when the port is released. At least one witness has 
seen NeXT Mach running (albert in single-user mode) on an Alpha in Redwood City. 
On the other hand, NeXT did include DEC's UNIX among its list of upcoming 
ports for Portable Distributed Objects. DEC representatives at the event later told 
Sullivan that the PDO deal had not been inked. Similarly, the long-expected NCR 
endorsement for PDO failed to materialize. 



Lt Sullivan 



In case you were wondering, Ron Weissman is fine. Concentrating on his 
presentation in the bright glare of the stage lighting, he accidentally stepped off 
the platform. He got right back up and gamely went on but was noticeably limp- 
ing later at the conference. One rumor mentioned a hairline fracture, but when I 
next saw Ron, he was just fine. 

NeXT third-party developers are griping again. In his keynote presentation, 
Steve Jobs focused exclusively on custom apps and failed to highlight any cur- 
rent third-party software in his familiar NeXTMail-based demonstration. In fact, 
just about the only high-level mention of third-party develop- 
ers came during Scott McNeah/'s NEXTIME-delivered remarks, 
which were addressed directly to commercial developers. 




M 



ore than one developer who attended last November's 
executive briefing reminded Sullivan that NeXT has 
not yet delivered on its promised customer fist. Most 
concede that the list need not contain the most sensitive con- 
tacts, but NeXT's resistance to coming up with references at 
its known customer sites is widely viewed as unnecessarily 
obstructionist. Meanwhile, the recent management change 
in NeXT's developer-relations program has brought a strate- 
gic shift as well. The department is apparently focusing on 
recruitment of major crossplatform developers to OpenStep. 
Sound familiar? 

Among third-party developments, the big surprise of the 
month was the defection of longtime NeXT supporter Marc 
Munford from Insignia to Pages. Sullivan was also pleasantly 
surprised by all the interesting new stuff underway at Metrosoft, especially its 
MeiroLock licensing technology, which can enable any kind of licensing scheme 
a developer chooses to implement, including locking down to the object level. 
This package could be one of the advances that will finally enable a true Object- 
Ware market. 

It sometimes gets confusing in this hall of mirrors known as the counterin- 
telligence game. Exchanging information is a good thing, as long as you 
remember where your loyalties lie. Nothing is better for keeping your com- 
pass setting than a white Lt. Sullivan mug in your home or office. Get yours 
for a tidbit of inside information. Reach Sullivan's voice mail at 415/978- 
3374 or e-mail him at sullivan@nextworld.com. RSA public key available 
upon request. 



SIMSON00002148 




PA7100LC RISC chip (actus! size .5625-inch square! 



NeXT has been chasing a 
chimera called the NeXT 
RISC workstation since 
almost the beginning of the com- 
pany's existence. Few saw the legen- 
dary beast, but its reputation spread 
far and wide throughout the NeXT 
community. Hewlett-Packard's 
new low-cost workstation comes 
the closest yet to capturing that 
machine's mythical appeal. 

The arrival of NEXTSTEP for, 
HP PA-RISC provides NeXT cus- 1 
tomers with new high-performance j 
hardware choices that, for the first j 
time, allow them to deploy NEXT- 
STEP throughout the entire enter- 
prise. And the portable nature of 
NEXTSTEP once again gives devel- 
opers access to a new market with 
a minimum of effort. 

"The PA-RISC architecture 
has a tremendous amount of cred- 
ibility in the financial-services com- 
munity, as well as the broader 
UNIX community," says Jonathan 
Schwartz, president of Lighthouse 
Design. "This is one of the first 
unadulterated pieces of good news 

H Wam APRIL 1994 



for NeXT since they decided to get 
out of the hardware business." 



In the beginning 



NeXT first looked at RISC 
(Reduced Instruction Set Com- 
puting) technology in the early 
eighties when it planned the orig- 
inal Cube. But RISC was not yet 
mature, and instead the company 
went with the latest in CISC 
(Complex Instruction Set Com- 
puting) technology, the Motorola 
68030. With the design for the 
NeXT RISC workstation on the 
drawing boards, NeXT found 
itself in the middle of an industry 
price war that was won by Intel, 
another CISC architecture. Port- 
ing to Intel and closing down hard- 
ware operations were survivalist 
tactics, not long-term strategies. 
The RISC workstation died a pre- 
mature death, a victim of the price 
war, 

CISC processors like the Pen- 
tium are reaching the end of their 
life span; they support complex in- 
structions that can take several 



clock cycles to complete, while RISC 
processors use simplified instruc- 
tions that can be executed in only 
one or two clock cycles. With the 
port to PA-RISC to be followed by 
versions of NEXTSTEP for SPARC 
and possibly Digital Equipment 
Corporation's Alpha, NeXT is 
staking its future on RISC. 

NeXTWORLD got a sneak 
preview of NEXTSTEP for HP PA- 
RISC running on the new Model 
712, and we were impressed with 
how well the NEXTSTEP experi- 
ence translates to a radically dif- 
ferent architecture. Put simply, it's 
is where NEXTSTEP belonged ail 
along (see "Eight Bit Wonder"). 

HP's Precision Architecture 
RISC processor was first intro- 
duced in 1986 and, over time, has 
become the industry leader in both 
performance and price/perfor- 
mance over competitors such as 
Sun Microsystem's SPARC and Sil- 
icon Graphic's MIPS. Like NEXT- 
STEP, it is a proven technology 
that is just beginning to move up 
the price/performance ramp. HP 
has committed to PA-RISC for the 
next decade, with plans to use the 
microprocessor in everything from 
personal digital assistants to high- 
end servers. 

NEXTSTEP for HP PA-RISC 
will run on the HP Apollo 9000 
Model 712, 715, 725, 735, and 755 
but was specifically designed with 
the 712 in mind. NeXT has been 
shipping PDO (Portable Distributed 
Objects) for the Series 800 Busi- 
ness Servers since November 1993. 

With the introduction of the 
Model 712, HP is helping NeXT re- 
move the hardware barrier around 
choosing NEXTSTEP. There is 
now a wide range of available 
options at nearly every price point 
and performance level. 

Although the Model 712 is ini- 
tially targeted at the financial-ser- 
vices market, its capabilities 
suggest that it will also have appeal 
in multimedia and publishing, 
markets that were once promising 
but have long remained closed to 



NeXT. It could even reawaken 
interest in NeXT in academic cir- 
cles - NeXT's original target market. 
Customers in financial services 
typically require higher performance 
and a level of integration not possi- 
ble with a PC. "We're pushing toward 
on-line, global, real-time systems, 
and there are limitations to what a 
PC architecture is going to be able to 
do," says Jim Holworst, senior vice- 
president of trading products at First 
National Bank of Chicago. Accord- 



Our first loo 
on HP's low 



by Lei 



ing to Holworst, the new software is 
arriving just in time, as his firm looks 
for a replacement for its aging black 
hardware. "NEXTSTEP for HP PA- 
RISC gives them everything they 
need," says Jonathan Guerster, 
financial services marketing man- 
ager of HP's workstation group, 
"access to the enterprise, high per- 
formance, and rapid application 
development and deployment." 

NEXTSTEP for HP PA-RISC is 
the missing piece in the strategy out- 
lined by NeXT and HP when the 
two companies joined forces last May. 
NeXT software now runs on the 
complete range of HP hardware - 
Intel-based Vectra PCs, 700 series 
workstations, and Series 800 servers. 
"End users can decide what level of 
performance they need," says Guerster. 

HP has been striving for years 
to put a human face on UNIX. With 
NEXTSTEP running on a low-cost 
workstation, the company finally 
has the opportunity to move into 
the commercial space that, until 
now, has eluded it. "The financial- 
services market was a clear win, so 
we did that first," says Eric Chu, 
NeXT's product marketing man- 
ager. "But NEXTSTEP opens up a 
lot of doors to the HP sales force." 



Photograph by David Magnusson 




SIM SON 00002 149 



F £ 11 I 



(I B E 



I 



Chu divides the potential mar- 
kets into two groups. The first, of 
course, is financial services, the group 
targeted with the Object*Enter- 
prise initiative. The second encom- 
passes all other vertical markets, 
including health care and telecom- 
munications. 

According to Chu, pricing will 
continue to remain the same across 
all NEXTSTEP ports (which is not 
necessarily true of OpenStep 
implementations like Solaris, since 



NEXTSTEP 
pizza box 



man 



their price is set by the software 
vendor, not NeXT). 

The extent of HP's commit- 
ment to the new platform remains 
in question. NEXTSTEP for HP 
PA-RISC is just one option being 
offered to HP customers, and cur- 
rent marketing efforts are focused 
in just one narrow segment. HP 
will support Taligent objects 
within HP-UX, providing some of 
the benefits of NEXTSTEP. For 
some, the lack of Windows com- 



patibility will remain a nagging 
concern. Many will continue to 
stick with HP-UX 9.0 running 
Motif 1.2X11 Release 5. HP-UX 
will run Windows applications 
under WABI or SoftWindows, but 
there is currently no way to run 
these applications under NEXT- 
STEP. Customers who need ad- 
vanced networking capabilities 
and multitasking might decide to 
wait for the impending port of 
Windows NT to PA-RISC. But for 
existing NEXTSTEP users who 
have never quite shaken the work- 
station mentality, the partnership 
is a dream come true. 



Any port in a storm 



NeXT first proved its porting 
expertise with the Intel port in 
May 1993, as it was beginning its 
transition into a software com- 
pany. The NEXTSTEP for HP PA- 
RISC project officially began on 
July 1, 1993, taking a team of 20 
enginners approximately one year 
to complete. The software will ship 
sometime this summer, according 
to Avie Tevanian, NeXT's director 
of RISC, and subsequent ports are 
likely to take the same amount of 
time, with NEXTSTEP for SPARC 
arriving at the end of 1994. "It's a 
similar recipe, we just need to change 
the processor," says Tevanian. 




Eight Bit Wonder 



The first thing you notice about the Model 712 is how easy it is to set up. 
There are no cards to install and nothing to configure. It's a real work- 
station with integrated networking, sound, and graphics capabilities that 
work the minute you take it out of the box. A single power button on the 
front of the machine is used for both powering on and shutting down the 
system. 

To test Hewlett-Packard's speed claims, we launched the Mandelbrot 
demo that ships with NEXTSTEP. As soon as we let up on the Run button, 
the image finished drawing. Graphics are sharp and flicker free. At first 
glance, the Model 712 appears to be running NEXTSTEP in 24-bit color 
at a resolution of 1280-by-1024 pixels. But in fact, it uses an HP tech- 
nology called Color Recovery that uses a lossy algorithm to display 24-bit 
color in 8 bits. This feature allows the 712 to display true-color images 
using one-third of the VRAM, keeping the overall cost of the system low. 

Designers and others who must have true color can purchase a higher- 
end machine (such as the 715) with a 24-bit color card, but such systems 
cost considerably more. We tried out a 715 and were impressed to discover 
that dragging windows around on the screen seemed much fester than on a 
monochrome NeXTstation. 

Support for the 712's sound hardware hadn't been enabled in the 
prerelease version of NEXTSTEP for HP PA-RISC that we saw, but a driver 
should be ready by the time of release. 

The 712's video capabilities, however, are another matter. Many users 
are looking to the 712 as a possible replacement for the NeXTdimension 
system, but until NeXT releases its NEXTIME video technology , NEXTSTEP 
can't take advantage of the 712's built-in MPEG decompression. Even then, 
support is far from certain. NeXT could develop a plug-in for NEXMME that 
supports the video hardware, but, at press tune, NeXT had no current plans 
to do so. Under HP-UX, the 712 can play back real-time video at 30 fps in a 
window that is 320by-240 pixels in size. Surprisingly, the machine lacks 
any kind of video I/O. 

NEXTSTEP for Intel includes a dual boot capability that allows you to 
keep both DOS/Windows and NEXTSTEP on a single hard disk. NeXT may 
enable this capability under NEXTSTEP for HP PA-RISC, but given the 
size of both HP-UX and NEXTSTEP, users may prefer to keep each OS on 
a separate drive. 

The 712 can support multiple monitors simultaneously, but since this 
capability is missing from NEXTSTEP 3.2, the version on which NEXT- 
STEP for HP PA-RISC is based, it is unlikely to be supported in the initial 
release. NeXT also has no plans to support HP's TeleShare, an expan- 
sion card that offers integrated telephony capabilities. A driver could be 
written using DriverKit by an enterprising third party. % 



by Lee Sherman 



a nnn mn/i utvTUMDl n I ' 



SIM SON 00002 150 



FEATURE 



Even before the decision to drop 
its hardware was made, NeXT had 
been flirting with putting its OS 
on other architectures. Much of 
the initial work that resulted in the 
HP port was done when NeXT 
was considering which CPU to use 
for the fabled NeXT RISC work- 
station. "When we started, we had 
a lot of experience, not only with 
Intel but also with the 88000 
architecture and the PowerPC," 
says Tevanian. "We found that we 
had already done a lot of the work." 

To facilitate the project's com- 
pletion, Hewlett-Packard engi- 
neers worked on-site at NeXT, 
handling low-level issues related 
to their hardware, such as device 
drivers, while NeXT engineers con- 
centrated on higher-level issues re- 
lating to NEXTSTEP. With the re- 
turn to more proprietary hardware, 
future ports, like the upcoming 
version of NEXTSTEP for SPARC, 
will continue to be driven by such 
partnerships. "When we do these 
types of projects, we need a part- 
ner to help us," says Tevanian. 
"We're not going to just go out and 
get a machine and figure out how 
it works." 

The port proved easier than 
the port to Intel because the tar- 
get platform, the 712 workstation, 
has a relatively finite set of hard- 
ware requirements. "The nice thing 
is that there aren't a lot of different 
Ethernet and SCSI cards or lots of 
different ways to display on the 
screen, so we don't have to replicate 
our work," explains Tevanian. 
"We could do just one set of drivers." 

For both users and developers, 
NEXTSTEP for HP PA-RISC is vir- 
tually identical to the versions for 
Motorola and Intel. Beyond in- 
creased performance, you won't see 
any major changes in the NEXT- 
STEP environment. "We're inter- 
ested in delivering the NEXTSTEP 
experience to as many people as 
possible," says Chu. 

In a heterogeneous world, 
NeXT will live or die by how well it 
lives up to that strategy. On the 
Intel platform, the task was made 
harder by the many possible con- 
figurations and the need to inte- 
grate Windows into the NEXT- 
STEP environment. NEXTSTEP 
for HP PA-RISC is a no-compro- 
mise version of NEXTSTEP, with 
all oi the elegance intac 




"It's a simple recipe, we just 
need to change the processor." 



- Avie Tevanian 



The new math 



Initially, the software available for 
PA-RISC will be a subset of what 
is available for Motorola and Intel. 
It can't be assumed that develop- 
ers will follow wherever NeXT 
leads, but because NeXT has laid 
the groundwork, porting an appli- 
cation to any new platform re- 
quires little more than a recompile, 
with no changes to the source code. 
"You recompile, double-click it, 
and it works," says Tevanian. 

With the Intel port, NeXT 
claimed that it could be accom- 
plished in a matter of days. On PA- 
RISC, Tevanian says the port can 
take as little as one hour. You can 
expect to see mainstream NEXT- 
STEP applications, like Anderson 
Financial Systems' WriteUp; 
Athena Design's Mesa; Lighthouse 
Design's Concurrence, Diagram!, 
and Taskmaster; and Sarrus Soft- 
ware's SBook and Pencil Me In, 
available for PA-RISC on or near 
the time of release. 

While Tevanian's claims may 
be exaggerated and don't take into 
account software testing, docu- 
mentation, or other aspects of pro- 
ducing commercial software, the 
number of potential new sears 
seems to outweigh the costs asso- 
ciated with porting, especially for 
those developers already in the 



NEXTSTEP market. "I think those 
vendors that are still viable will 
port," says Lighthouse Design's 
Schwartz. "Some of the smaller util- 
ities might not happen simply 

I because those companies may not 

get access to a PA-RISC machine. " 

Costs are low enough that 

i developers can enter new markets 
without having to leave another one. 
The number of seats they can sell 
into can double or triple overnight. 
"We took development and 
packaging out of the equation," 
explains Chu. "The only thing left 
for a developer to do is QA, and 

| they've got a product. We've really 
lowered the barrier on entering 
many new markets." 

The message to developers is 
that NEXTSTEP is not just one ar- 
chitecture but several, all of which 
interoperate across a network. 
NeXT is telling software vendors to 
develop their applications on Intel 
now and port to other architec- 
tures as they become available. But 
PA-RISC may eventually become 
the development platform of 
choice because it can significantly 
decrease compiling time. 



Leapin' lizards 



Regardless of the lack of applica- 
tions, users who need the ultimate 
in NEXTSTEP performance will 
turn to the Model 712 in droves. 



When it comes to naming its com- 
puters, HP is all business. The 
"Model 712" may not sound sexy, 
but the machine itself is. (Perhaps 
HP should have stuck with the more 
appropriate code name, Gecko.) 
Powered by the latest PA-RISC 
chip, the screaming PA-7100LC, 
which runs at up to 80MHz and 
features amenities like built-in CD- 
quality audio and full-motion 
video capabilities, this machine 
could be the workstation for 
which longtime NEXTSTEP users 
have been waiting. 

The Model 712/60, which runs 
at 60MHz, is rated by HP at 58 
SPECint, while the 712/80i is rated 
at 84 SPECint. Both systems deliver 
79 SPECfp, making them the fastest 
NEXTSTEP machines available. By 
contrast, a NeXTstation Color is 
rated at around 12 SPECint and 10 
SPECfp. 

NEXTSTEP for HP PA-RISC 
was clearly designed with the Model 
712 in mind. The 712's integrated 
hardware capabilities and sleek 
look calls to mind NeXT's origi- 
nal black hardware. At the same 
time, it returns NeXT to a level of 
price/performance that it hasn't 
experienced since the introduction 
of the NeXTstation. 

Like Silicon Graphic's Indy 
platform, the Model 712 running 
NEXTSTEP provides all of the 
benefits of running a high-end 
UNIX operating system with an 
easy-to-use interface and power- 
ful underlying hardware. It also 
includes multimedia capabilities at 
a price point low enough to com- 
pete with high-end PCs. This point 
is reinforced by a PC-style key- 
board and mouse. "We talked to a 
lot of customers, and we heard loud 
and clear that they wanted more 
hardware choices," says Chu. 

The Model 712, despite its 
conservative name, is a fire-breath- 
ing monster that eats CPU cycles 
for breakfast. Together, NeXT 
and HP have done what neither 
company could do alone. % 



Lee Sherman »d senior 
contributing editor to NeXT- 
WORLD. 




SIM SON 000021 51 



~r&f£tyi{*}ft ■ 



% 



£t. 



.' 



NeXT is cracking open the Japanese 
market with native character support 
and - surprise - software availability 



• • t 

Next time you find yourself at Tokyo's international airport, just hop 
on the Nanta Express for central Tokyo. Transfer once for Shinagawa sta- 
tion and once more for Shin-Kawasaki, a small community on the outskirts 
of Tokyo. 

Walk up the stairs of the subway station, past the bank of vending ma- 
chines selling cans of Coke, Pocari Sweat, hot chocolate, and beer. Leave 
the station, turn around, and you'll see the twin glass towers of the Mitsui 
Building about a half kilometer in the distance. 

"You can't miss them," says James Higa to visitors 
from the West. "They're the only towers around." 

Indeed they are. The rising sun glints off the 
glass of Higa's 16th-floor office, midway up the 
tower on the right. NeXT Computer K.K. - 
NeXT's home across the Pacific. 



West meets East 

Like Gaul, NeXT is divided into three parts: 
United States, Europe, and Asia. "I run 
Asia," says Higa. 

At first glance, Higa appears like any 
other soft-spoken, modestly dressed Japanese 
businessman - until he speaks. In a land where 
English is a rarity, Higa speaks in a clear voice 
without the slightest trace of an accent. But lest 
you think he is an American with a Japanese her 
itage and last name, listen to him speak with his staff. 
Then Higa is the soft-spoken, cautious nihonjen, without 
a trace of Western articulation or manners. It's that seamless tran 
sition between English and Japanese, between East and West, that remains 
at the heart of NeXT's strategy to capture a piece of the Japanese market. 

Times have changed since NeXT's single claim to fame in the Japanese 
market was its easy system for entering and reading Japanese Kanji char- 
acters. Nevertheless, NEXTSTEP'S technical edge remains a strong selling 
point. 

Until recendy, Japan had an uneasy relation with computers. The prob- 
lem was character sets. In additional to the Roman characters of the West, 
the Japanese use three other character sets on a day-to-day basis. There is 
the Hiragana, a phonetic alphabet with 83 different characters; and the 
Katakana, another phonetic alphabet with 86 characters that is used for 
words borrowed from other languages. Together, they comprise the Kana. 

Then there is the Kanji, a Chinese pictorial character set brought to 
Japan by the Chinese more than 1200 years ago. Although the typical stu- 
dent recognizes 3000 Kanji symbols upon graduation, there are really many, 
many more symbols, frequently used for place names or kinds of foods. 

When typewriters, and then computers, cane to Japan, ms eople 
predicted the end of the ' 
sand keys was mon 




people predicted that the Japanese would have to stop using their pictorial 
system and only use the phonetic Kana. 

In recent years, however, computers have invigorated the use of the 
Kanji, mainly because of good phonetic dictionaries and sophisticated arti- 
ficial intelligence-based systems that can pick an appropriate Kanji charac- 
ter from a phonetic spelling in the Hiragana or Katakana. Users type on a 
Western QWERTY keyboard (with the space bar split into a few extra 
Shift keys). The operator types the Kana for a word, a phrase, or even an 
entire sentence, and then presses a special key to cycle through the various 
Kanji symbols that have a similar sound. When the right Kanji symbol is 
found, another key substitutes it for the Kana text. 

• • • 

Opening the market 

When the first Japanese version of NEXTSTEP was introduced for the Jap- 
anese market, NeXT's software was the only operating system from the 
West to automatically support phonetic entry of the Kanji character set in 
even" application. Other operating systems, such as DOS or vanilla 
UNIX, required developers to write their own Kana-to-Kanji 
system for each program. At the same time, NeXT's 
400-dpi laser printer was the only low-cost laser 
printer on the market with enough resolution to 
print the complex Kanji forms that make up 
the basis of written Japanese. NeXT was the 
obvious, right choice for Japanese who were 
interested in computing. 

At the time, NeXT's major competition 
didn't come from other UNIX worksta- 
tions but from Apple's Japanese version of 
the Macintosh operating system, which 
had its own host of problems; and NEC's 
bastardized version of Microsoft DOS, which, 
for protectionist reasons, wouldn't run stan- 
dard DOS or Windows applications. It also 
wouldn't run on any IBM-compatible PC that 
wasn't equipped with special ROMs. 
These days, things have changed. For starters, 
NEC's homegrown Japanese DOS is largely a thing of the 
past. Instead, most Japanese use IBM DOS J/V and Microsoft 
Windows-J, with standard shrinkwrapped DOS and Windows applications 
from the United States, on standard IBM-compatible PCs (though not nec- 
essarily with Japanese-language support). Windows-J comes with a Jap- 
anese-input program called IME and two TrueType Japanese fonts, giving 
many Japanese computer users the power they want at a price they can 
afford. Similar advances have been made in the Macintosh universe, where 
most of the problems with KanjiTalk have been worked out. 

Meanwhile, Sun's SPARCstations have come to dominate in Japan's 
technical-workstation market. Most engineers with Suns on their desks use 
a special version of GNU EMACS (called NEMACS) running on top of an 
internationalized version of X Windows that allows them to enter phonetic 
spellings of the Kanji in a special buffer, cycle through a variety of Kanji 
choices, and send the result to the X Window program of their choice. 

NEXTSTEP is still the only operating environment that gives every 
application program in-line Kanji conversion. NEXTSTEP is also the only 
multilingual system that allows different users on the same machine to enter 
the text and see the is in English, Japanese, French, German, Span- 

ias dicta! :di i >tanc : - iized. 

applications are more 



SIMSON00002152 



-\tWt 






Japanese Software for NEXTSTEP 



Program 



Description 



Educational 



easy (Education Assistance System) 

Look Up! 

(Majan) 

Speech Editor 

UNIX for NeXT 



'Tracks grades 
On-line documentation 
Networked Majan game 
Edits speech 
UNIX tutorial 



Graphics 



Appsoft Image 


Pixel manipulation 


BJ 


Canon Bubbkjet driver 


CAD-Engine for NeXT 


CAD program 


CanoPAT 


u) program 


Diagram! 2,1 J 


Drawing 


GT-Star 


Graphics editor 


IX 


Image-processing system 


LASER SHOT 


Canon LASER SHOT driver 


LATLAS 


Incorporates map data 


LightShow 1.2] 


Presentation and. outlining ■ 


Prims 


Scanner driver 


NEXTSTEP Utilities for PIXEL jet Canon Pixel Jet driver 


Quick Scan 


Scanner driver 


RE: REGARDING 


Document-management system 


ScanS'000 


Scanner driver 


SV-Library 


Still-frame video driver 




Medical 


IMAGE POCKET 


Ultrasound image processing 


LX10G 


Analyzes medical tests 


Pro-MEDug 3.0 


Analyzes medical tests 




Multimedia 


CD Writer -NeXT/S 


Writes CDs 


NXtalkl 


Speaks Engliskand Japanese 


RM 


MIDI sequencer 


Spiel 


Speaks in Japanese 


Super Authoring System 


Multimedia authoring system 


(including SA Std., SA Color, 




SA Pro, and SA Runtime) 


■ 


Tiles Work 


Dock extender 




Native 


Banquet Vision 


Banquet planner 


Bridal Vision Guide 


Wedding planner 


NIP 


ISDN connectivity 


Textile Designer 


Textile-design program 




Productivity 


DataLiak for S 


Link to Sybase 


Fax Link 


Pax-modem driver 


: Report 


SQL report writer 


GFbase3J. 


Graphical DB front end 


GFbase Kit 


SQL database 


(Intro) 


Puts NeXT input in Fortran and 




Pascal 


INFORMIX 4.1 


SQL database 


INFORMIX DBKit Adaptor 


■ DBKit adapter 


Lotus Improv 1,0} 


Spreadsheet 


LIT COBOL 


ANSI CoboIX3.23- 19X5 


METACard for Windows 


Forms-based database system 


NeXT Easy Graphic 


Puts graphics in C, Fortran, and Pasca 




programs 


Optima NX 


Financial modeling 


SQ-1 


Madiematical-graphiiig program 


Templated Field Kit 


Smart fields 


WingZUJ 


Spreadsheet 


X-Fioal 


Character-based spreadsheet 


3270Vision 


3270 terminal emulator 




Word processing 


Documentalist 1.0 


Word processor 


PRESBOX for NeXT 


Page layout 


VJE-Pen Super 2.0 


DTP/Page layout 


VTEXT 


Word processor 



To discover NeXT's new marketing strategy in Japan, you'll need to 
leave NeXT's headquarters and take a walk to the streets, where NeXT's 
partner, Canon, is selling NEXTSTEP for Intel in its cham of Zero-One shops 
throughout Tokyo and Japan's industrialized corridor. 



Sales boom 

According to Shigeru Kobayashi, who manages NeXT sales for the Zero- 
One shop in Tokyo's Shibuya district, sales started picking up when NeXT 
introduced NEXTSTEP 3.2 in the United States (the Japanese language 
version wasn't available until early 1994). In the last four months of 1993, 
says Kobayashi, the Zero-One store sold more than 50 NEXTSTEP for 
Intel packages. 

Prices for NEXTSTEP in the Zero-One shops are remarkably in line 
with prices in the United States. NEXTSTEP for Intel retails at ¥98,000 - 




m 



20 mimm april im 



The Zero-One store in Shibuya displays NEXTSTEP prominently. 

roughly $882 (at press-time exchange rates). The developer version is priced 
at ¥228,000 ($2052). Those prices are rather amazing, considering that 
Japanese software traditionally costs two to three times more than the equiva- 
lent code in the United States. Canon also sells the white Intel GX as its new, 
integrated "NeXTstation," and the Zero-One stores sell Digital Equipment 
Corporation's Intel-based workstations at prices quite similar to those in the 
United States. 

These aggressive prices might be one of the reasons that Japan accounted 
for seven percent of NeXT's worldwide sales last year, says Higa, who was 
originally recruited by Steve Jobs in 1984 to work on KanjiTalk for the 
Macintosh and followed him to NeXT a few years later. Those figures are 
even more impressive, Higa says, considering that NeXT didn't have a Jap- 
anese version of NEXTSTEP 3.1 available until September 1993 - more 
than a year after the product was introduced at home. Before NeXT went 
out of the hardware business, more than 5000 black boxes were sold in 
Japan, according to Higa. 

But above and beyond character support and hardware integration, 
NeXT has had its greatest success m Japan with what is perceived as a prob- 
lem in the rest of its market: die wide selection of software that's available 
lor NEXTSTEP. 

• # • 

The subject is software 

English-language NEXTSTEP applications from the United States and Europe 

PHOTOGRAPHS BY SlMSON L. GakFINHL 




SIM SON 00002 153 



I 



't- 



will run on Japanese-edition NEXTSTEP systems without modification. 
With the exception of programs like word processors, which implement 
their own text object, English-speaking applications will even support in- 
line entry of Kanji characters. 

Nevertheless, few Japanese are willing to tolerate applications that do 
not have menus, inspectors, and alert panels translated into Japanese. At 
the same time, few of NeXT's third-party developers have had the resources 
or the inclination to translate their programs into Japanese. For these rea- 
sons, Japan has seen an explosion in native-grown applications for NEXT- 
STEP that rivals NEXTSTEP development in the United States. 

At last count, there were more than 50 different Kanji-speaking NEXT- 
STEP applications for sale in Japan. Some of the programs are uniquely 
Japanese, like Bridal Vision Guide and Banquet Vision, both $30,000 pro- 
grams for planning formal social events. Others are more mundane, like a 
package for integrating Display PostScript graphics into traditional C, For- 
tran, and Pascal programs. Nevertheless, Higa says, the most popular pro- 
grams are translated versions of English NEXTSTEP applications. "Light- 
house is probably one of the biggest sellers here," Higa says. 

Surprisingly, Japan has also become a haven for programs that are no 
longer available in the United States because their original publishers have 
gone out of business or lost interest in the NeXT marketplace. WingZ 1 2] 
and Improv J are still for sale in Japan, supported not by their original 
publishers but by Canon. Appsoft Image can be purchased despite App- 
soft's demise. Canon is even selling its stock of black NeXTcubes and 
NeXTstations - if you can afford them. (Canon had priced NeXT hardware 
in Japan two to three times higher than the comparable prices in the United 
States. Fortunately, the company has learned its lesson and is not charging 
high markups on Intel-based systems.) 

Despite all of the available software, people who actually use NEXT- 
STEP-based computers - especially transplanted engineers from the United 
States - are quick to complain that they can't seem to get the programs that 
they want. That is, they can't pick up the latest copy of NeXTWORLD and 
have their company order a copy of NXFax or Create. The problem, accord- 
ing to these engineers, is 
rooted in both culture and 
regulation. 

Culturally, Japanese 
companies are loath to 
order anything from out- 
side the floating kingdom. 
American professors at the 
University of Aizu (which 
has a small but growing 
installation of NeXTcubes 
and NEXTSTEP for Intel 
machines) and at the Inter- 
national Media Research 
Foundation (which has a 
collection of NeXTstations 
| for music research) report 
that their requests to order 
software and hardware 
from the United States are 
subtly discouraged, de- 
layed, or lost by their Japanese superiors. "I've given up trying to order soft- 
ware from the U.S.," says one researcher in Tokyo. Others report that moun- 
tains of paperwork must be filled out to buy something as simple as a S69 
MIDI converter. 





Prospective customers can also find NEXTSTEP 
resources at Zero-One. 



James Higa shows off a Japanese magazine article heralding the arrival 
of NEXTSTEP for Intel. 

The other problem is regulatory. Although researchers can call overseas 
from their home telephones and order software with their own credit cards, 
software purchased this way must be for their own personal use. Anything 
that is to be used by a business or university must be purchased from an 
official distributor, which usually marks up the price anywhere from 50 per- 
cent to 150 percent over the U.S. list. 

NeXT's Higa sees these problems changing as NEXTSTEP gains mo- 
mentum in Japan. "Software companies are very bad at worldwide programs, 
product support, and pricing and availability. So generally you have to go 
through whatever distributors you have to [get software into] in Japan. If 
there aren't any distributors, you are out of luck. [The problem is] especially 
acute during the start-up period. 

"Once a platform starts getting momentum, it's not a problem. U.S. 
software companies will make a decision on their own to come in here, and 
you have all these Japanese companies clamoring to get the distribution 
rights," he says. 

Higa is counting on NeXT's mission-critical custom-application strat- 
egy' as the basis for his sales in Japan and the Pacific Rim for the same rea- 
son that it has been successful in the Umted States and Europe: Companies 
have tried shnnkwrapped software and been dissatisfied with the results. 

In the meantime, one of the big problems that NeXT has always faced 
in Japan will evaporate when NeXT moves to NEXTSTEP 4.0. Until now, 
NeXT has always had to internationalize each version of NEXTSTEP to 
accommodate the Kanji's 16-bit characters. NEXTSTEP 4.0 will eliminate 
this disparity by using UNICODE (the 16-bit code that replaces ASCII and 
includes Asian characters in addition to European and Roman character 
sets) throughout the operating system. 

"Even now, the systems aren't that different. The core is the same, Mach 
is the same, NEXTSTEP is the same. The only difference is the Kanji-input 
routines, the input manger, and the fonts. Other than that, it is pretty much 
the same system. The text object does two-byte, but fundamentally, in the 
English system, it does that as well," says Higa. 

Eventually, though, even those minor differences will be gone, and NEXT- 
STEP will truly international. "In this age of Internet and global network- 
ing, we need a new ASCII that is multilingual," adds Higa. NEXTSTEP will 
surely be one of the first operating systems to have it. % 

S i M S K L . Garfinkel is a senior contributing editor to 
NeXTWORLD. 



SIMSON00002154 



EVELOPER CAMP 



i 



| ith all the talk about the nation's growing information super- 
■ f f 1 highway, those of us who have the privilege of sitting in front of 
| | J networked computers are increasingly concerned about coin- 
I puter security. And as NEXTSTEP developers deploy mission- 
critical custom applications into trading floors, banks, and hospitals, computer 
security has become a concern for all NeXT customers. 

So it's somewhat surprising that NEXTSTEP'S model for computer secu- 
rity seems to be trapped in a time warp that dates back to NeXT's found- 
ing in 1985. NeXT still offers standard Berkeley UNIX 4.2 tools: Pick a good 
password, don't put anybody in your .rhosts file whom you don't trust, and 
don't use NFS to export a file system to untrust- 
worthy hosts. 

Unfortunately, state-of-the-art security in 
1985 just isn't good enough for 1994. Cus- 
tomers should be able to put their worksta- 
tions on the Internet without giving away the 
keys to their business. 

NeXT did make one foray into the wacky 
world of computer security two years ago, 
when, at the 1992 NeXTWORLD Expo, Steve 
Jobs demonstrated new encryption facilities 
that had been developed for NeXTmail and the ■■■■■■■■■■■■^ 
workspace. Computer security, or at least encryption, would be part of NEXT- 
STEP 3.0, Jobs told a rapt crowd. Unfortunately, he spoke too soon. But it 
wasn't a question of whether NeXT's so-called "Fast Elliptic Encryption" 
violated existing patents on public-key encryption; the real problem was - 
and remains - U.S. export restrictions on cryptographic technology. NeXT 
can't embed encryption algorithms inside its operating system and sell it 
overseas. 

Encryption aside, there have been a lot of significant advances in com- 
puter security since 1985. Applications based upon these developments are 



Trapped in 
A Time Warp 



now finding their way into the operating systems of NeXT's competitors. 
Plain and simple, NeXT has some catching up to do: 

• NeXT should adopt MIT's Kerberos system for network security as 
the basis for its security model. (The Open Software Foundation has already 
made a Kerberos-based system a fundamental part of its DCE.) Kerberos 
could provide badly needed security for NeXT's NFS network file system, 
distributed objects. Display PostScript, and access to the workspace. 

• NeXT should license the Andrew File System (AFS) from Transarc and 
bundle it into the kernel or make it available as a reasonably priced add-on. 

• NeXT should update its NFS to incorporate TCP-based NFS, which 

provides better security and, as an added bene- 
fit, better performance over SLIP and PPP links. 

• NeXT should create an authentication 
API for its log-in panel or, better yet, embed 
provisions for token-based security systems 
such as Security Dynamics' SecurlD card. 
Perhaps the new partnership with Sun 
will nudge NeXT into improving NEXTSTEP 
security. While Sun is no standard-bearer in 
offering secure systems (it was laziness on the 
part of Sun's programmers that made possi- 
mmma^mmm^^mm y e tne jj§§ internet Worm), it has a repu- 
tation of taking security more seriously than the folks in Redwood City. 

One thing, however, is certain: Implementing security is hard, thankless 
work. It takes expensive, high-powered programmers who are skilled in 
the art. And if everything works as planned, you'll never know if your secu- 
rity measures are effective or not. Indeed, most companies discover prob- 
lems with system security only when it's too late. $ 



L . G A R I 



S i M S o N L . Garfinkel is a senior contributing editor to 
NeXTWORLD. 



NeXT AND HEME? 
DELIVER THE POWER OF OBJEC 



Financial services is an industry in which time is critically important. 

Here, where every second can mean the difference between profit and loss, 
some companies have already harnessed the power of software objects in select 
departments to stay ahead of rapidly changing markets. 

Now NeXT and Hewlett-Packard together offer a suite of business solutions 
that spread this power throughout the entire enterprise. 

ANNOUNCING OBJECT- ENTERPRISE. 

Object-Enterprise combines the strengths of two technology leaders to offer 
what no one company can: a unified enterprise-wide information system based 
entirely on object-oriented software. 

In a time-conscious business such as a brokerage firm, this type of system 
offers an irrefutable advantage. Because it allows a new generation of financial 
applications to be developed and deployed at every level of the organization — 
with radically greater speed. 

Object-Enterprise brings NEXTSTEP™ software to a full spectrum of Hewlett- 
Packard hardware, from PCs to workstations, with full support for NEXTSTEP 
objects on business servers. The result is a seamless and scalable system that 
offers a true competitive advantage. 

NEXTSTEP: '.'..PROBABLY THE MOST RESPECTED 
PI ECE OF SOFTWARE ON THE PLANFT. " 

The opinion is from Byte Magazine. The fact is, NEXTSTEP is without rival as 
the only shipping object-oriented user and development environment. 

Many Wall Street traders are already reaping the benefits of this technology, 
deploying complex custom applications in months instead of years. 

That's because NEXTSTEP allows applications to be constructed in a modular 




SIM SON 00002 155 



' ■ ■■ ./--tt-^vw 



■ . 



f X T INK 



PVVj eXT sales should be congratulated for making its SlO-million 
\ A II software-sales goal for the last half of 1993 almost to the dollar. 
^ I But how did it know? How did the numbers come in so exactly? 
■■M Even more importantly: Are NeXTs forecasts for 1 994 - 1 00,000 
seats and $50 million - as accurate and reliable as the 1993 numbers? 

It turns out that there are almost no surprise sales in the NEXTSTEP 
universe. Just as major-league ball players can be spotted a mile off as they 
develop in the minors, a major NEXTSTEP sale is a two-step process, First, 
NeXT must secure a design win, in which a company commits to buy a few 
dozen machines and create a custom applica- 
tion. It's like having a phenom on your minor- 
league team. 

Anywhere from six months to two years 
later, the company deploys the custom app, 
entering the Holy Grail phase when it orders 
several thousand units of NEXTSTEP. In base- 
ball, this phase is when the so-called rookie 
is brought up to the majors after several years 




Training 



of careful nurturing. 

Warren Weiss and his team determined, 
that, in 1993, the number of accounts ready 



D A N I, A V I N 



to deploy, plus a few new accounts on a fast-deployment schedule, plus the 
percentage of sales that come from nonmajor accounts, would total that ten 
million, if it was all carefully managed. 

In 1994, because of the long development cycle, most of the $50-million 
goal must come from accounts now in design phases and set to deploy in 1994. 

There are two traps that NeXT could conceivably fall into: First, it could 
be counting on every single one of these design wins to go to the deployment 
phase - an unrealistic expectation. Also, it could take design wins for granted, 
forgetting to nuture and serve them all the way to their conclusion. 

It is unreasonable to expect that the company will retain all of its poten- 



tial accounts, just as you always lose a few tadpoles to larger fish like the 
Pacific Northwest Giant Salmon (Fishus Gatesius), Too often, NeXT has 
trumpeted a new account as a "1000-unit account" years before the cus- 
tomer had made a final decision. In a very large corporation, several design 
efforts costing millions of dollars might be in process at the same time to 
pick the winner for the big deployment. Lesson: NeXT must have far more 
than 100,000 irons in the fire to make its 1994 numbers. 

But in addition to all of the design-win accounts that must be brought 
to maturity, the sales force must continue to get those new design wins if it 

expects to have any kind of decent 1995. 
Existing markets must be exploited, and new 
Sun and HP customers must be snared into 
the NEXTSTEP fold. 

It seems to me that these require different 
skills. Bill Weseman has begun to bifurcate 
the design and deployment functions by hav- 
ing telesales push one- and two-unit pilot 
programs, but the sales force working with 
the Object Channel still handles both large 
design, wins and deployments. 

I suggest that NeXT align its sales force 
into teams that have members that specialize in each function. Specific 
account specialists could be assigned at the time of a design win to shepherd 
projects all the way through while the salespeople seek out more opportu- 
nities. Patterned on the developer-advocate model, these employees could 
be termed corporate-developer advocates. 

That way, the phenom customer of today could grow successfully into 
the major-league player of tomorrow, and NeXT could do the same, making 
it to the big leagues. $ 



DAN L A V I N comments on business issues in NeXT Ink. 



MKARD NOW 

N AN ENTERPRISE-WIDE SCALE. 




fashion, using software objects as building blocks. These objects, easily re-used 
and maintained, take the place of complicated and error-prone computer code. 
While the rest of the computer industry is still years away from implementing 
an object-oriented system, NEXTSTEP is here today. Polished and perfected in 
its third release 

AN OBJECTIVE POINT OF VIEW FROM DESKTOPTO DATA CENTER. 

Hewlett-Packard has long led the drive toward interoperability and object 
computing, offering a scalable hardware architecture from client desktop to 
the enterprise-wide data center. 

With a family of products including Intel 8 ' 486- based Vectra PCs, PA-RISC 
workstations and business servers, Hewlett-Packard delivers leading technology 
at all levels. Along with quality engineering and rock-solid service and support. 

By joining in Object-Enterprise with NeXT, Hewlett-Packard is redefining the 
(evel of performance you can expect from an advanced trading system. And its 
industry-standard hardware provides the assurance that Object-Enterprise will 
integrate seamlessly with your existing investments. 

SEE HEWLETT-PACKARD AND NeXT NOW IN CONCERT 

Object-Enterprise gives you one point of contact to tap the collective power of 
Hewlett-Packard and NeXT. And we do encourage you to make contact. 

Just call us at 1-800-TRY-NeXT We can supply you with more information, 
and reserve seats at an upcoming Object-Enterprise seminar in your area. (We'll 
be conducting seminars throughout the country in 1994.) 

We think it will be a day well spent. And we're keenly aware of how valuable 
your time can be. 



m 



HEWLETT 
PACKARD 




SIM SON 00002 156 



REVIEWS 



Decaf Development 

Brew your own apps with Professional 
Softwares development environment 



by S I M S N 1 . G A R F I N K E L 



BSPRESSO! Developer 
provides an entirely dif- 
ferent way of brewing 
NEXTSTEP applica- 
tions. In a way, Profes- 
sional Software's developer environ- 
ment is actually more like cappuccino 
than its namesake, since its purpose 
is to soften any sting of NEXTSTEP 
much as steamed milk softens the 
Italian coffee. 

ESPRESSO! enables program- 
mers to create form-based, data-driven 
applications for viewing and modi- 
fying information stored in complex 
relational databases without having 
to leam how NEXTSTEP works. But 
using it comes with a high cost: utter 
dependence upon Professional Soft- 
ware for timely bug fixes and advances 
in its development environment, the 



additional points of failure that come 
with using a complex application, and 
less flexibility than the native NEXT- 
STEP environment provides. 

Instead of forcing a developer 
to master object-oriented program- 
ming, Objective-C, and the nuances 
of the AppKit and DBKit, ESPRESSO! 
gives the developer a more familiar 
paradigm: sophisticated text fields, 
push buttons and sliders, a fourth- 
generation C-like scripting language 
called ESL (ESPRESSO! Scripting Lan- 
guage), and a top-down program- 
ming methodology that would make 
any Cobol or BASIC programmer 
feel comfortable. 

Extensions, exits, roots, and bases 

To make all of this plug and play in 
the NEXTSTEP environment requires 



the use of a counterintuitive set of 
four NEXTSTEP InterfaceBuilder 
objects. Ever}' application that uses 
ESPRESSO! must have an ODExit- 
Mgr and ODRoot object in its main 
nib file. You'll also need an ODWin- 
dowBase object for every window 
your application intends to display. 
Although Professional Software's 
documentation sort of explains what 
these objects do, the company never 
shares its design rationale with the 
user. 

Once you have set up an ES- 
PRESSO! nib, you simply drag out 




traditional NEXTSTEP objects such 
as TextFields, Buttons, and other 
Controls. Then, instead of connect- 
ing the objects on the screen to objects 
within your program, you connect 
the ESPRESSO! object to the con- 
trols on the screen. By doing so, you 
change the control into an ESPRES- 
SO! Extension. The extension lets 
you alter the behavior of the NeXT- 
provided objects. For example, you 
can use ESPRESSO! to create a Text- 
Field that will only hold date and 
time values, or only store floating- 
point numbers or currency amounts. 
Thus, ESPRESSO! Developer embod- 
ies most features of Objective Tech- 
nologies' SmartField Palette at a very 
competitive price. 

The power of ESPRESSO! ex- 
tends beyond simple input restric- 
tion. Using Professional Software's 
scripting language, you can write 
your own procedure, which can be 
automatically called before or after 
a field's value is changed or as each 
key is pressed. You put these ESL 
functions in their own file and com- 
pile them with the ESL compiler that 
Professional Software provides. 
Finally, you tell each object on the 



We keep the score on NEXTSTEP hardware ! 




ith hardware 
options multi- 
plying every month, 
the task of choosing 
a PC, workstation, 
or server to run 
NEXTSTEP can over- 
whelm your technical 
staff. NeXTWORLD's 
monthly Box Scores 
cut through the 
marketing claims 
with real performance 
testing. From the 
desktop to the data 
center, NeXTWORLD 
tracks the hits, runs, 
and errors. Call 
860-685-3435 to 
subscribe now. 



:iPii?ifl 




■*. a 



24 NiXTMIUI APRIL 1994 




SIM SON 00002 157 



BQg i 



■ . .- ■ ■ ■. ■ ■ ■ ■.. ". 



REVIEWS 



screen which exten- 
sion to run by typ- 
ing the extension's 
name into the OD- 
WindowBase In- 
spector, Be sure to 
get the spelling of the 
name right, or else 
your application 
won't work. 

Professional 
Software calls these 
ESL code snippets 
"exits" (a term sure to initially con- 
fuse any NEXTSTEP programmer). 
Although the ESL language looks like 
C, it isn't. ESL only has 126 built-in 
functions (far fewer than NeXT pro- 
vides as part of its ANSI C develop- 
ment system}, which are documented 
in a single 131-page section of its 
manual (though the manual is avail- 
able only on-line). An API allows you 
to call standard C functions from 
ESPRESSO! and vice versa. Compa- 
nies considering ESPRESSO! should 
carefully evaluate this unique depen- 
dence on a proprietary language and 
compiler, a unique situation in the 
NEXTSTEP third-party world. 

Developers hacking NeXT's DB- 
Kit will be intrigued by the ESPRES- 
SO! ODModule object, a DBKit 
"extension." Using ODModule, you 
can perform qualified selections on 
a set of database records, change the 
sort order, or alter the sequencing of 
retrieved records. 

Three of the remaining ESPRES- 
SO! objects can add basic function- 
ality to any NEXTSTEP application: 
ODMultiView, ODDragView, and 
ODPickList. All three allow you to 
change or customize their behavior 
with ESL. Unfortunately, Profession- 
al Software doesn't provide enough 
documentation to let vou modifv 
them the traditional NEXTSTEP way: 
by subclassing the Objective-C classes. 
Consequently, what you can do with 
these objects is limited to the few 
operations that Professional Software 
thought ESL programmers might 
want to perform. 

The last object in the ESPRES- 
SO! Developer library is ODLock, a 
pointed object with the sole purpose 
of preventing other people from open- 
ing your InterfaceBuilder nib files. 
Locking an ESPRESSO! nib is impor- 
tant, since most of an ESPRESSO! 
application can be run from Inter- 
faceBuilder's Test Interface mode. Un- 




ESPRESSG! Developer's pletSe includes eight objects for InterfaceBuilder. 

fortunately, ODLock is a dangerous 
little object. Make one typo, and you 
might find yourself locked out of 
your own project. 

Locked in, locked out 

But the real problem with ESPRES- 
SO! is that it locks the developer in 
to the subset of NEXTSTEP that Pro- 
fessional Software thinks is worth- 
while. Of course, no serious developer 
would consider using ESPRESSO! 
to write a word processor or a 3-D 
modeler. Unfortunately, aspects of 
such sophisticated applications have 
a tendency to pop up in the most 
banal custom apps. When they do, 
the power of NEXTSTEP helps you 
solve your problem - unless you're 
using ESPRESSO! instead. 

For example, a general-ledger 
system written with ESPRESSO! 
might use Cut and Paste to move text 
about, but it could never use that 
method to transfer journal entries 
from one checkbook to another, since 
catching these events and handling 
them intelligently is beyond the abil- 
ities of ESL. To do so, you would 
have to bypass the very functionality 
that makes ESPRESSO! initially 
attractive to developers. 

Companies that don't want to 
dead-end on the road to high-speed 
application development with NEXT- 
STEP would do well to skip the cof- 
fee break, buckle down, and learn 
the nuts and bolts of Objective-C and 
NeXT's Application Kit. It will be 
well worth the effort. $ 

S I M S O N L . G A R F J N K E L 

is a senior contributing editor to 
NeXTWORLD. 



STEP UP YOUR OUTPUT 




StepWriter-BX and StepWriter-NX are new laser printers designed 
exclusively for all computers running NEXTSTEP that have a SCSI port. 
The StepWriter-BX is perfect for desktop publishers who require high- 
resolution laser printing on letter, legal, or tabloid-sized (11x17) paper. 
This 8 ppm model is based on the latest 600-dpi BX engine from Canon. 

The StepWriter-NX is based on Canon's new 600-dpi NX engine, This 
speedy 1 7 ppm printer is perfect for shared use on a network. It features 
an offsetting paper delivery assembly that can place each user's job in 
a separate stack. The StepWriter-NX can also be fitted with an optional 
duplex mechanism for automatically producing double-sided reports 
and manuals. 

Both StepWriter models come bundled with eXTRAPRINT Laser from 
GS Corp. EXTRAPRINT is licensed to harness the power of the Adobe 
PostScript interpreter built into NEXTSTEP for use with laser printers. Use 
of the Adobe PostScript interpreter ensures that all text and graphics will 
print exactly as you see them on screen. 

Call The Printer Works for the fastest and best way to print from 
NEXTSTEP. Free print samples and literature available. 



-^PRINTER 
WORKS 

Quality Printers for Computers Since 1 982 



800-225-6116 

3481 Arden Road, 
Hayward, California 94545 



Intl. Tel: (510) 887-61 1 6 1 Fax: (510) 786-0589 ■ e-mail: tpw@netcom.com 



BX and NX are trademarks of Canon, Inc., eXTRAPRINT is a trademark of CS Corporation, NEXTSTEP is registerd trademark of NeXT Compuler, Inc., 
PostScript h registered trademark af Adobe Systems, Int. SfepW'ilerBX and SrepWriter-NX are Irarlemarks uf The Printer Wurks, Int. 



Circle 1 on reader service card 



APRIL 1994 NOTOIU) 25 



SIM SON 00002 158 



REVIEWS 















Report for Duty 

Ocean Software's Complete Access puts 
information at your fingertips 



by S E T H Ross 

;■-■ .v w ' ./ J hether data lives on 
| || water-cooled iron or a 
1 'j >1 web of workstations, 
it only has value when 
I people can access it 
and put it into useful, readable re- 
ports. Drafting business reports from 
corporate databases, though, has 
typically been grunt work. 

But that could change with the 
combination of NeXT's DBKit and 
Ocean Software's Complete Access, 
a report-writing application based 
on modular and interchangeable com- 
ponents. 

Complete Access puts an arse- 
nal of data querying, fetching, and 
reporting tools at the disposal of a 
programmer or advanced user. Fin- 
ished Complete Access documents 
(called "containers") generate reports 
(called "layouts' 1 ) that can be run at 
will by novice users. 

If you're an executive or tech- 
nologist that regularly must analyze 
and report on vast arrays of data, you 
should seriously consider this appli- 
cation. Given the right situation, 
Complete Access could justify the 
adoption of NEXTSTEP. 

We evaluated late beta versions 
of Complete Access 1.0 and found 



that it provided easy access to data 
living on a Sybase server. All but a 
few features were functioning in the 
version we reviewed, and the rest 
should be complete by the rime this 
review appears in print. 

The component is the message 

A Complete Access container is di- 
vided into five component types: Mod- 
el, Data Set, Layouts, Queries, and 
Calculations. Components can be cre- 
ated separately and then mixed and 
matched to create different containers. 

Complete Access is designed to 
work with any relational database 
engine that has a DBKit adapter, in- 
cluding Sybase and Oracle. Strictly 
a reporting device, the program can- 
not administer or build a database, 
nor is it designed to let you make 
changes. The Model component is 
used to connect either directly to the 
database or to models created with 
the DBModeler app, which is included 
with NEXTSTEP Developer. This 
process will typically require some- 
one with database experience. 

Using the Data Set component, 
you can suck in data from a wide 
variety of sources. The database de- 
fined by the Model component is the 




It's simple to compose SQL queries using the Complete Access graphical query builder. 



common choice. But you can also 
import Tab-limited text files created 
by other applications like DataPhile 
or Improv. Just drag the file from the 
Workspace Manager and drop it in 
the Data Set Inspector's well. 

Laying out the data 

Now the power user with little data- 
base experience can get into the act. 
The core of Complete Access is the 
Layout component, which produces 
the physical documents and deliver- 
ables. It's a snap to lay out data in a 
wide variety of common report for- 
mats, including mail-merged form 
letters, labels, and envelopes. 

Complete Access allows you to 
toggle between a design mode and a 
browser mode. In design mode, the 
app provides a batter) 7 of design tools 
arranged in a horizontal tool bar, in- 
cluding drawing tools and a variety 
of objects (like text fields, memos, 
checkboxes, or pictures) that can hold 
data from your database. Simply click 
the appropriate mini-icon and start 
drawing your layout's fields. 

Quick queries 

Queries determine which data will be 
retrieved from a database. One bar- 
rier to the widespread adoption of 
SQL databases is the difficulty of 
mastering SQL's syntax. Complete 
Access obliterates this barrier. 

You don't have to know a shred 
of SQL to compose complex data- 
base queries with Complete Access. 
New queries begin with at least one 
query criteria - a formula that sets 
up the query. To build a query, sim- 
ply select and drag a field from the 
table browser and drop it on the 
query criteria. Click the Relational 
Operator button and choose from 
operators like <, < =, >, > and so on. 
Finally, type in a parameter you want 
to match. For example, say you need 
to search a customer database for 
anyone by the name of Jones. Drop 
the name field into the criteria. Select 
the relational operator "=" and use 
"Jones" as the parameter. You've set 
up a query' that will retrieve records 
with "Jones" in the name field. 

Complete Access lets you seam- 
lessly create complex queries with 
multiple criteria, which are often built 
around these operators: AND, NOT 
AND, OR, and NOT OR. It's fairly 
simple to query for, say, the custom- 
ers who don't have a California ad- 



dress and who have ordered more 
than $500 worth of product. If you 
know SQL, you can bypass the 
graphical query builder and directly 
input SQL queries. 

The CA advantage 

The modular approach of Complete 
Access represents a boon for indi- 
viduals and workgroups alike. Any 
component can be detached from a 
container and saved in a library. By 



Complete Access 1.0b5 m 



• t • • 






Compkle Access is a graphical report 
writer that allows both noinc-e and expert 
to seamlessly qmy, fetch, and present data 
from SQL databases. The app s modidar 
approach allows users to reuse and share 
major report components, 

$499 

Ocmti Software, 4241 Baymeadows Rd. 
MljadisomilkFL 32217:904/363-1646, 
C H)4/'636'5S56 fax; info@ocemsoft,com. ■ 



loading up the library with common- 
ly used components that you can 
drag and drop mto your containers, 
you save time down the road. Why 
set up that complicated tax calcula- 
tion if your co-worker has already 
figured it out? Why set up a query 
from scratch if you developed and 
stored a similar one several months 
ago? Administrative employees could 
be taught to run existing containers 
with almost no training and soon be 
creating new containers out of tried- 
and-true components. 

One notable absence in this ver- 
sion of Complete Access is charting, 
the staple of business reports. Ocean 
will include charting features in Ver- 
sion 1.1, and anyone who buvs Ver- 
sion 1.0 is entitled to a free upgrade. 

Missing features aside, Complete 
Access should represent a valuable 
tool for those who live and die by re- 
ports. It's easy enough for the novice 
yet does not arbitrarily hold back the 
expert. Assuming that Ocean Soft- 
ware is able to polish its beta version 
into a solid shipping product, Com- 
plete Access should earn a place on 
the Dock of ever)' database junkie. $ 

Seth Ross is the publisher of 
San Francisco-based Albion Books 
and a contributing editor to NeXT- 
WORLD. 



26 MWm APRIL 1994 




SIM SON 00002 159 



■mi 



REVIEWS 



Daydream Believer 



0fter months of hard 
work and negotiations, 
Quix Coraputerware 
is finally shipping Day- 
dream, a combination 
of hardware and software that allows 
black machines to run - not just emu- 
late - Macintosh software. This prod- 
uct represents the first time the Mac- 
intosh operating system has been 
ported to a non-Apple system with 
Apple's blessings and license. 

To provide this dual capability, 
Qulx took the ROMs from the Mac- 
intosh LC series and put them in a 
box that connects to the NeXT DSP 
port. On the software side, the pack- 
age uses Apple's System 7.1 and a 
custom app developed by Quix. We 
looked at a prerelease version for 
this review. 

Similar to Insignia Solutions' 
SoftPC, Daydream uses a disk file 
that acts as a virtual Macintosh vol- 
ume and holds the System 7.1 files. 
Unlike SoftPC, however, Daydream 
doesn't run in a window: Starting 



Daydream reboots the NeXT ma- 
chine under the Daydream kernel 
and turns it into a Macintosh. The 
Quix effect is quite amazing, but 
rebooting to switch back and forth 
between Mac and NeXT prevents 
cutting and pasting between envi- 
ronments and limits Daydream to 
specific, self-contained tasks outside 
of a user's normal workflow. In con- 
trast, ARDI's software emulator, 
Executor, is less seamless but operates 
within the NeXT environment. 



Daydream (beta) 



• lets a 




Quix is an cxccib 



NeX i iii'jchtiie uci ptsi a 
Run- 



$895 

Quix Computmrare .40', P.O. Boy 

. 1.2011 
•m, 4U4184.SS.4l 41M&MM 
fax; qUtx@appieHitk.appk. 



A NeXT us- 
ing Daydream 
will talk and act 
like a Mac, but, 
because of hard- 
ware differences, 
some limitations 
do exist. Full 24- 
bit color video is 
not supported, 
printing is limited 
to Ethernet net- 
works, and sup- 
port for NeXT 
laser printers isn't 
yet ready. Except Even Quark and Photoshop couldn't choke Daydream. 
for scanners, most 

standard SCSI devices can be used, 
but ADB devices are not supported. 

We were skeptical that a first 
release of an emulator for a system 
as complex as the Macintosh would 
perform well, but it did. installation 
took less than five minutes. We tried 
to choke the Daydream with tasks 
in Adobe Photoshop, Quark XPress, 
and a variety of accounting applica- 
tions from Microsoft Excel to Peach- 
tree's Insight - all from a PLI Infinity 
Turbo 105S SyQuest drive. We 
printed to both a Hewlett-Packard 



DeskJet 1200 C/PS in full CMYK 
color and an Apple LaserWriter Pro 
630 across an Ethernet network. 

The result: No problems. The 
only bug we ran across involved using 
a modem, and Quix promised to fix 
it before shipping. 

For xNeXT users with Mac needs, 
this package is a dream come true, 
providing authentic Mac system soft- 
ware with the performance of a Quad- 
ra 950 at a fraction of the cost. $ 

by Don Wilson 



NEXTSTEP COMPATIBLES THAT WILL PLEASE! 








Workstation s 2650 

• Intel i486DX-33MHz CPU 

• ISAA1 Bus Motheibid, 1 28K cache 

• Diamond Mini TWrcase, 230W pwr 
•16MB RAM 

• TEAC 1.44 mb Floppy disk drive 

• Promise VL Bus IDE controller 

• 345MB Western Digital HD, 12ms 
•ATI Graphics Ultra Pro VLB. 2MB VRAM 

• 15" SVGA Flat Scrn color monitor 

• 2 Serial, 1 Parallel, 1 Game ports 

• Fujitsu 101 Keyboard 

1 Logitech 3 button bus mouse 




Basic Developer s 3950 

• Intel i486DX2-50Mffe CPU 

• EISAAL Bus Motherbrd, 256K cache 

• Diamond Mid 1\vr case. 250W pwr 
•20MB RAM »Dual cooling fans 
•TEAC 1.44 mb Floppy disk drive 

• Adaptec 1542CF SCSI II Controller 
•540MB Seagate SCSI II HD, 10ms 

• ffl Graphics Ultra Pro \1B. 2MB VRAM 

• 17" CTX SVGA Flat Sem monitor 

• 2 Serial, 1 Parallel, 1 Game ports 

• Fujitsu 101 Keyboard 
•Logitech 3 button bus mouse 




Super Developer s 5995 

• Intel i486DX2-66MHz CPU 

• EISA/VL Bus Motherbrd. 256K cache 

• Diamond Mid Pwr case, 2501 pwr 

• 32MB RAM • Dual cooling fans 

• TEAC 1 .44 mb Floppy disk drive 
•DPT 2022 EISA SCSIH Controller 

• 1.05Gig Micropolis SCSI II HD, 10ms 

• #9GXE Level II VLB, 2MB \"RAM video 

• 17" MAG MX17F SVGA Flat scrn monitor 

• 2 Serial, 1 Parallel, 1 Game ports 

• 101 Keybrd • Logitech bus mouse 

• Toshiba CDRom, 200ms 



Pentium Screamer 5 7995 

• Intel PENTIUM, 66*fflz 

•EISA/VL Bus Motherbrd, 5 12K cache 

• Diamond Full Twrcase, 250Wpwr 
•32MB RAM • Dual cooling fans 

• TEAC 1.44 mb Floppy disk drive 
•DPT 2122 EISA SCSHI Controller 

• UGig Micropolis SCSI II HD, 10ms 

• ffliroCRML PCI S3 video, 4MB VRAM 

• 17" Viewsonic SVGA Super Hi-Kes monitor 

• 2 Serial, 1 Parallel, 1 Game ports 

• 101 Keybrd • Logitech bus mouse 
•NEC Triple Spd CDRom • Pro Audio 16 




GEC Computers, Inc. (800) 486-1000 



1901 East University Drive, #300, Mesa, Arizona 85203 
Fax (602) 834-1522 BBS (602) 834-6662 



Phone (602) 834-1111 



VISA 



QUALITY 

Above all, a system 
from G.E.C. is quality. Very 
competitive pricing is just a 
little bonus. Our customers 
tell us that the reason they buy 
from us is they know the ma- 
chine will work, and that if 
something happens to go 
wrong, a professional techni- 
cian is going to make it right in 
a hurry. 

EXPERIENCE 

Try dealing with a company 
where every salesman knows 
NEXTSTEP standards and every 
technician has built, loadedand 
tested NEXTSTEP compatibles. 
Our techicians are trained, 
work closely with NEXT and 
with our customers on 
compatibilty, and are involved 
in NEXT user's groups. 



SIM SON 00002 160 



REVIEWS 




Rating the Pentium 

NEXTSTEP users require the kind of power that only the 
latest CPU can provide, so the arrival of the first Pentium 
systems for NEXTSTEP is welcome news. 

NEXTSTEP can take full advantage of the Pen- 
tium chip, which provides all-around speed enhance- 
ments, as well as specific improvements for compute- 
intensive tasks like compiling and 3-D rendering. But 
unlike systems designed to run Windows, UNIX hard- 
ware must be carefully balanced. If any one subsystem is 
weak, the entire machine suffers. 
The bottleneck is often hard-disk access. With the right hard 
disk, a '486 system can approach Pentium speeds. And before you upgrade 
to the Pentium, you might consider adding more memory to your machine. 
Many '486 systems allow you to upgrade simply by sticking a Pentium chip 
in the available overdrive slot. While this may be an economical alternative, 
it won't provide the system throughput available in a true Pentium machine. 
Pennum chips are currently available in 60MHz and 66MHz versions, 
and a 90MHz version is on the way. The modest speed increase you'll get 
with the 66MHz version probably isn't worth the heat problems you're 
likely to encounter. The 9CL\lHz Pentium is expected to include new cool- 
ing features that will eliminate the problem. 

Many Pentium machines include such recent advances in PC design as 
a PCI bus, fast SCSI-2, and 32-bit color support. Vendors such as Compaq 
and Intel are integrating CD-quality sound into their Pentium systems. While 
power users will want to wait until NEXTSTEP moves onto PA-RISC, a Pen- 
tium-based system provides the maximum performance available today. $ 

by D a n L a v i n and Lee S h e r m a n 



Box Score User 



Advance 2000 NeP5-ADS 



# # # % 
$7849 

Configuration 

Pentium 60MHz; 32MB RAM; 1GB 
SCSI drive; CD-ROM drive; 1024-by- 
768, 16-bit Miro S3 928 graphics; 3 
VL-Bus and 5 ISA slots; 17-inch color 
monitor. 

NeXTWQRLD benchmarks 




Webster 



Performance 

One of the fastest machines we've seen. 
Subsystems are tuned for high perfor- 
mance. Pentium from the ground up. 

Video 

Excellent color. Very slow graphics may 
affect NEXTSTEP performance. 

System design 

Convenient access to CD-ROM drive 
and system controls. Somewhat noisy, 
especially the drives. 



NEXTSTEP orientation 

Advance 2000 is knowledgeable about 
NEXTSTEP and actively working in 
the market. 

Support 

Excellent. 30-day money-back guar- 
antee. Lifetime labor with a guaranteed 
48-hour turnaround. Lifetime free 
phone support on hardware. One-year 
warranty on parts. 




Value 

Expensive system, but a premium solu- 
tion. Good value overall. 

Contact 

Advance 2000, 8560 Main St., Buf- 
falo, NY 14221. 716/631-5602, 716/ 
631-0569 fax. 




Box Score User 



Located in the heart of Chicago's Loop, NationsBanc - CRT is your 
MeXT step towards a rewarding career with an industry leader. Our 
leading edge technology coupled with a fast paced, casual environ- 
ment has everything you will need to be successful. 

As one of the largest financial derivatives trading firms in the 
world, NationsBanc- CRT is well known in the financial indus- 
try for the state-of-the-art trading systems that support our 
world-wide trading operations. New projects and developments 
have created an immediate need for: 



NeXT Software Engineers 

to design and develop NeXT-based applications 
for real-time trading and financial engineering. 



A BS in Computer Science, or equivalent, and two years expe- 
rience required. Fluency in C programming language coupled 
with programming experience in one of the following environ- 
ments is essential: NeXTStep, X, Macintosh or MS Windows. 
Solid background in object-oriented languages such as C++, 
Objective-C, CLOS or Smalltalk also required. Superior commu- 
nication abilities a must. Financial industry experience, a strong 
mathematical background and relational database experience 
highly desired. 

Make NationsBanc - CRTjw NeXT step. We offer a competi- 
tive compensation package and full benefits, Not to mention ail 
the things Chicago has to offer: a low cost of living, highly 
acclaimed restaurants, night clubs and theaters and world class 
sports teams. 

For consideration, please direct your resume with salary history 
to: NationsBanc-CRT, Human Resources - Dept NSE, 440 S. LaSalle, 
Chicago, IL 60605. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V. 

NationsBanc-CRT 



Pars International BarracudaDX2 



$ % % $ 

S5849 (not including NEXTSTEP) 

Configuration 

DX2/66; 32MB RAM; 1GB SCSI drive; 
CD-ROM drive; 1280-by-1024, 16- 
bit ATI UltraPro graphics; 8 EISA and 
1 VL-Bus slots; 17-inch color monitor, 

JVeJmWAlfi benchmarks 




Circle 57 on reader service card 



Webster 



Performance 

Fast '486 system. Tremendous disk 
performance boosts overall speed sig- 
nificantly. 

Video 

Slow ATI graphics, slight jitters, but 
has high resolution and good color. 

System design 

Clunky tower, strong keyboard and 
mouse. Lots of slots, a number of 
goodies, including DPT card. 



NEXTSTEP orientation 

Committed to NEXTSTEP, strong 
UNIX knowledge. 

Support 

One year on parts, three years labor, 
and promises 48-hour turnaround on 
repairs. Toll-free technical support. 
No unconditional money-back guar- 
antee. 




Value 

Low price for a machine with this 
many goodies. Strong performer. 

Contact 

Pars International, 22441 Foothill 
Blvd., Hayward, CA 94541. 510/733- 
0103, 800/9474742, 510/733-0206 
fax. 



28 NIXTMU APRIL 1994 



SIM SON 000021 61 



REVIEWS 



StringKit 1.2a 



$ % $ $ $ 

$649 per developer machine; source code 
available. 

Objective Technologies. 7 Dey St. # 1 502, 
New York, NY 10007. 212/227-6767, 2/2/ 
227-3567 fax; info@object.com. 

Objective Technologies' StringKit is 
a model object library that should 
set the standard for other NEXT- 
STEP developers. In one fell swoop, 
Objective Technologies provides 
developers with a comprehensive 
object for handling all aspects of 
string manipulation, from simple 
operations to copying and search- 
ing, as well as complicated behavior 
like parsing and retrieving string in- 
formation as integers, floating-point 
numbers, or time and date values. 
But instead of stopping there, String- 
Kit goes on to add OTStringExten- 
sions categories to NeXT's classes to 
support its string objects. As an added 
bonus, StringKit contains a system 
that the company has developed for 
managing temporary objects in a 
global name space. These methods 
are implemented as categories on the 
Object class, so they are available 
to even r part of an application. Get 
StringKit today and end your fixed- 
buffer overrun bugs. SLG 



Crash Catcher 1.1 



$ % $ % si 

$749 

WhiteLtght Systems, 350 Cambridge Ave. 
MOO, Pah Alto, CA 94306. 415/321-2183, 
415/321-2083 fax; info@wbiteligbt.com. 



Unexpected application crashes can 
be one of the most frustrating bugs 
for a developer to uncover. "It just 
crashed," complains the customer, 
who is often unable to offer further 
details. Well, no longer. With Crash 
Catcher, a library that you simply 
link into your existing applications, 
it is as if all of your users are running 
your application from GDB. Bus er- 
ror? Invalid message sent to an object? 
No matter: Crash Catcher catches 
the error, generates a detailed back 
trace (better than GDB's), and gives 
the user the option of printing it or 
e-mailing it back to your technical- 
support department. No serious de- 
veloper should be without it. SLG 



Reviews Desk 

NEXTSTEP remains the home to some of the best developer 
tools and ObjectWare on the planet. We were blown away by 
the quality of this month's StringKit. It joins the ZyXEL modem 
as our only current holder of a perfect five-cube rating. At the 
risk of sounding pedantic, we encourage budding object design- 
ers to study the way Objective Technologies does business. 
Look at the quality of its objects and documentation. More 
importantly, look it the kinds of problems the company solves. 
They're nontrivial yet of general use. These objects are designed 
to save time for other programmers. Look at your own library 
of homegrown objects, think about the needs of others, and 
put in some time crafting some gems. The rewards are there: 
Just ask five-cube holder, Best of Breed winner, and success- 
ful object vendor Objective Technologies. - D a n L a v i \ 



this month's gang includes Eliot B e R g S q n ( E B ) , S . I M s N 
L. Garfixkel (SLG), and myself, Dan Lavin ( D L ) . 



Doom 1.2 



% $ $ $ 

Free 

ID Software, Town East Tower, 18601 LB) 
Freeway #6/5, Mesqutte. TX 75150. 214/ 
613-3589. 800/534-2637. 214/686-9288 fax. 

Doom is an outstanding game pre- 
sented as a public service by the good 
people at ID Software. The com- 
pany actually wrote Doom for the 
PC market but developed it first on 
NEXTSTEP to take advantage of its 
rapid prototyping. It sells the PC ver- 
sion but gives away the less complete 
NEXTSTEP version to support the 
NeXT community. Overall, Doom is 
an excellent game. You move through 
an alien base picking up objects, 
shooting baddies, trying out new 
weapons, and exploring in general. 
It sports terrific graphics, lots of intri- 
cacies, and hidden tricks without 
losing sight of its basic role as a shoot- 
'em-up game. As ID says, you can 
have a slugfest without requiring the 
reflexes of a hyperactive eight-year- 
old. Available at all major archive 
sites. Highly recommended. Would 
definitely get more cubes except for 
its unfinished status. DL 



ArtFonts, CoolFonts, 
BrushFonts 1.0 



$ % $ % 

$49 [CoolFonts, BrushFonts] and 
S59 (ArtFonts) 

Ciusa, 3208 W Lake St., Minneapolis, MN 
55416. 612/822-1604, 612-922-4426 fax; 
cmsa@cup.portal.com. 

While the demand for typefaces used 



in body copy is always greatest on 
any DTP platform, the need for dis- 
play faces - those fonts specifically 
designed to add zip to headlines or 
posters - is usually overlooked. 
Ciusa's latest offering, three sets of 
sometimes wild, sometimes elegant 
display faces, reaffirms the company's 
nt to the NEXTSTEP pub- 
lishing market. Each set comes with 
FontAide, a "mini Type View" util- 
ity, as well as documentation that 
could be glitzier (this is, after all, a 
font package). Ciusa is planning to 
include an installer from Metrosoft 
in the future that should make the 
clumsy NEXTSTEP installation pro- 
cess easier. Aside from wondering 
why certain fonts were included - 
only Anthony Perkins at his worst 
would use Psycho, while Exclusive 
sets new standards for unreadabil- 
ity - these packages are well worth 
the introductory pricing. Get 'em 
now. EB 




Dedicated to the NeXTSTEP Community 




Pre-ioaded 
and Tested 
with 
NeXT: 



The 

Newest 

Hardware 

with the 

Latest 

Drivers! 



our Company's Source for the 

PROFESSIONAL / GX Wopkstalion 

#1 in Ouali 



619-723-4827 sates I support 619-723-4392 fax 

NeXTmail: tfinn@gun.com 

Circle 31 on reader service card 



APRIL 1994 NMnlLB 29 

SIMSON00002162 

















GO 





Netlnfo 



Tailor 






NEXTSTEP Netlnfo for Heterogenous Networks 

Netlnfo is a flexible and extensible database system for information 
about computer and network configuration. It is highly-regarded 
for its ability to easily manage complex heterogeneous networks 
via a powerful NEXTSTEP graphical user interface. It is currently 
available for SPARC, Auspex, HP/UX, RS/6000 and OSF/1. 
Through the graphical administration tools of NEXTSTEP, 
Netlnfo can manage all of the UNIX workstations on a network. 
It also allows file and compute servers to act as Netlnfo servers 
for the entire network. In this way, Netlnfo provides {legibility 
for storing and distributing general, as well as custom information. 



Notebook 



Information Processing Application 

NoteBook is fot everyone seeking a convenient way to manage 
everyday flow of information and ideas. It's a revolutionary 
application whose power comes from two breakthroughs. First, 
NoteBook uniquely combines an outline processor for creating 
lists of information with a visual "notebook" metaphor for 
management. Together, they make storing and organizing 
information simple and elegant. Second, NoteBook employs 
Dynamic Index Views technology (Pat Pending 1992), allowing 
you to instantly view "cross sections" of your information. It's 
like having the power of a sophisticated database query system 
without the complexity. 



Screen Machine II 



Real-Time Video Digitizer/Multimedia Board 

Screen Machine 11-1993 NeXTWORLD Best of Breed-is a 
real-time true-color or grey scale video digitizer and a multimedia 
board capable of displaying live video in any size at any monitor 
position. It combines high-quality image recording, digital 
video signal processing, and real-time video display on a single 
board for your Intel 486-based PC running NEXTSTEP. It is 
the first video overlay board to support non-interlaced resolution 
of 1024 x 768 at screen frequencies of up to 76Hz in graphics 
mode. Screen Machine II incorporates the Professional Video 
Scaler and the Video Memory Controller (VMC) which increases 
the display quantity of the live video and provides video 
effects/ovetlays, such as luma, chroma keying, mosaic, etc., 
respectively. 



CHaRTSMITH 



Business And Scientific Charting Application 

CHaRTSMITH is a presentation quality charting and graphing 
package that allows the novice or expert uset to create business 
and scientific charts quickly and easily. The focus of the 
CHaRTSMITH user interface is the Chart Window where 
charts and graphs are displayed and directly manipulated. A 
single Chart Window corresponds to a CHaRTSMITH document 
in which any number of charts can be stoted. In coordination 
with the Chart Window is the Data Window, where the data- 
that is graphically represented in a chart- is entered and stored. 
From any given chart, a CHaRTSMITH template can be built, 
storing the attributes of a chart so that future charts can be 
identically formatted. 






Graphical PostScript Editing Application 

TAILOR is an essential application for publishing and page 
layout tasks. TAILOR can edit any PostScript (PS and EPS) 
document, including multi-page PostScript files imported from 
MS Windows or Macintosh platforms. TAILOR can move, 
reshape, or delete all types of graphic objects, such as line art, 
text and pixel images. It can recolor, modify or add line art; 
alter typefaces; add or modify text; and regroup text lines into 
paragraphs for more flexible editing. TAILOR can then save 
the results back into a PostScript file or use the standard copy 
and paste functions to place them in any NEXTSTEP application. 



NetWatch: 



Easjio-Use SNMP Monitor Application 

NetWatch is an easy-to-use SNMP monitor application that 
runs under NEXTSTEP. NetWatch supports SNMP MIB-I 
and MIB-II as well as Ridgeback Solutions' SNMP AOeNT 
for NEXTSTEP and SunOS. The SNMP AGeNT extensions 
allow access to: file system(s), swapfile(s), processes running, 
CPU utilization, and who's logged in. 

■ Topology maps and network representation 

■ Node icons 

■ Netlnfo support. 

■ Queries and more ... 



Questor 



Macro-Based Spreadsheet Application 

Questor is a spreadsheet application fot NEXTSTEP that combines 
die intuitive metaphor of matrix-based spreadsheet with a number 
of very powerful features and a true NEXTSTEP interface. 
Questor includes a powerful scripting language, a seamless 
SQL database interface and a flexible API that makes Questor 
the perfect tool for any type of problem solving. 

The backbone of Questor is a conventional matrix-based 
spreadsheet application that can easily be used by anybody that 
have once used spreadsheet applications like Microsoft Excel, 
Lotus 1-2-3, or Wingz. 



Vario Data Pro 



Multi-User Database Application with SQL Front-End 

VarioData Pro contains two applications: VarioBuilder and 
VarioData. VarioBuilder is used to create a new database and 
modify an existing one, while VarioData is primarily used for 
the actual database front-end itself. 

■ SQL connection: work with existing tables (created in other 
programs) or choose "read-only" or "modifications possible." ■ 
Supports Sybase, Informix, Oracle, InterBase. ■ Scripts; define 
formulas to use VD automatically ■ Report design ■ Formulas 

■ Formula inspector ■ Report inspector I Barcodes generation 

■ Multiple database windows I User-definable labels I Help 
lines for texts, ruler, alignment, definable grid, fonts, etc... ■ 
Extended print panel: fax merge, print, email ■ Multi-user 
support with safe record locking ■ Album and many more. 



Pre*installed/Warrantied Hardware 



he-loaded With NEXTSTEP And Demonstration Applications 

Intel 486 DX2/66 Mhz I Mini-Tower or Tower case ■ 256KB write-back cache ■ 2 VESA local bus and 6 EISA sloes ■ Up to 
128MB RAM ■ 240MB, 540MB. 1.2GB, or 2.4GB hard drive options ■ ATI Graphics Ultra Pro video card w/ 2MB VRAM 
(1 1 20 x 832 @1 6-bit w/Rev. 6 card) ■ Intel Ether Express ethernet card ■ 1 7" high-resolution monitor I Adaptec 1 542C SCSI 
card ■ 3.5" floppy drive ■ 2 serial and 1 parallel port ■ 101 keyboard ■ Logitech bus mouse ■ Optional 2-year warranty 



SIM SON 00002 163 




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J 7) Marketing, promotion or 
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□ 8) MIS/DP, tech. services or tech. 
documentation 

□ 9) Other 

B. Computer you use at work or at home 
(please check all that apply): 

G 10) IBM or compatible 

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C. Publication you read regularly 
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□ 15) Business Week 

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A. Department you most often work in 
(please check one): 

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management 

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□ 5) Engineering 

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Graphics & Word Processing 



System Administration 



CHaRTSMITH 

Compose In Color 

Concurrence 

Create 

Diagram !2 

Graphity 

Image Agent 

PhotoRlB 

Pixel Magician 

Retina 

ScanTastic 

Tailor 

TextArt 

Virtuoso 

WetPaint 

ZZ Volume 

WordPerfect 

intuiriv'3d 

solidThinking ANIMATOR 

soIidThinking MODELER 

3D Reality 



Business and scientific charting 

Advanced image editing and processing 

Presentation and outlining 

Easy-to-use drawing &. illustration 

Technical and business drawing 

Business graphics 

Drag-and-drop non-native image files 

Photorealistic 3D Tenderer 

Image file format converter 

Scitex IRIS solution 

Scanning application for various scanners 

Graphical PS/EPS editor 

Typeface illustration 

Advanced graphic illustration 

Image editing and processing 

Architectural design 

Word processing standard 

3D modeler and renderer 

3D animator 

3D modeler and renderer 

3D modeler and renderer 



Mix 

Connectlt! 

TeleComm 



Communications 



Voice mail, email, fax, modem 
Email & UUCP connection setup 

Telecommunications 



CHINAware 



Rocks! 
Wonderful Mosaic 



Assistant 

ElectroFile 

FrontDesk 

MetroTools 

News Man 

NoteBook 

PaperSight 

Simon Savs 

SoftPC 

StaylnTouch 

TaskMaster 

TouchSight 

TypingCzar 

VIVA! 

What's Happening? 

Who's Calling? 

direct 



Alembic Workstations 

Black Box 

Elonex Workstations 

Mix box 

Screen Machine II 

i56 w/DSP and sound board 

miro 



DataPhile 
VarioData 



Miscellaneous 



Chinese environment 



Space mission game 
Timed puzzle game 



Productivity 



Contact management 

Imaging systems 

Network in/out board and phone messaging 

General productivity 

Dow Jones news retriever 

Information processing 

Office document manager 

Voice and speech recognition 

DOS & Windows emulation 

Address book 

Integrated project management 

Touch screen for NEXTSTEP 

Keyboard typing trainer 

Business management and information systems 

Multiple calendars management 

Client management and scheduler 

Address management and phone dialer 



Hardware 



Intel 486/ Pentium-based workstations 

Image processing accelerator 

Intel 486 and Pentium-based workstations 

Telecommunication system box 

Live video and real-time video digitizer board 

Digital signal processing board 

High-end graphics card for Intel-based PC 



Database 



Personal flat-file database 
Multiuser flat-file database 



AGeNT 

CubXWindow 

Netlnfo 

NetWatch 
SNMforSparc-SUNOS4.lx 



Questor 
Mesa 

Sunrise 



AquaNet 
FTl/DOE 
FTl/SWMM 
Mathematica 



Dots CLC10 

Dots CLC30O/5O0 

Dots CJ10 

Dots Color 

Dots Monochrome 

Dots PCL5 Color 

Dots RTL Color 

Dots TS 

Engage!Desktop 

EquationBuilder 

FrequentPhrases 

LaserMan 

MetroForms 

MetroKeys 

MetroSuction 

N1ST Synchronicity 

SplitBuilder 

Squash! 

VirtSpace 

Author! Author! 

niCe 

ticc 



BarCodeKit Cdll/MSI 

BarCodeKit CodabarPalette 

BarCodeKitCodel28Palette 

BarCodeKit Codel6KPalette 

BarCodeKit Code3of9Palette 

BarCodeKit Code49Palette 

BarCodeKit Code93Palette 

BarCodeKit EANPalette 

BarCodeKit ISBN/ISSN 

BarCodeKit ITFPalette 

BarCodeKit JANPalette 

BarCodeKit PostalPalette 

BarCodeKit UPCPalette 

Bar-a-Coda 

CraftMan 

CrashCatcher 

Dolphin Kit 

Electro 

ESPRESSO! Developer 

SerialPortKit 

SerialPortServer 

Simulation Kit 



SNMP agent 

X-Windovv emulation 

UNLX network system administration 

SNMP monitor 

Network manager 



Spreadsheet 



Matrix-based spreadsheet 
Traditional spreadsheet 
Personal traditional spreadsheet 




Scientific 



Simulation for pressurized pipe networks 
Dynamic building energy analysis 
Hydrology, hydraulic/water simulation 
Advanced mathematics 



Utilltie; 



Canon CLC10 driver 

Canon CLC300/SOO driver 

Canon CJ 10 driver 

Color printer drivers 

Monochrome printer drivers 

Dot matrix and laser printer drivers 

Dot matrix and laser printer drivers 

Dot matrix and laser printer drivers 

Desktop environment manager 

Mathematical equation editor 

Frequently used phrases insertion 

Serial-port laser disc player controller 

Forms creation 

Macro creation 

MAB-file examination and removal 

System clock synchronizer 

Large email splitter 

File compression 

Virtual screen manager 

Document history keeper 

RTF source code development tools 

System clock synchronization 



Development 



Industrial barcode creation objects 
Industrial barcode creation objects 
Industrial barcode creation objects 
Industrial barcode creation objects 
Industrial barcode creation objects 
Industrial barcode creation objects 
Industrial barcode creation objects 
Industrial barcode creation objects 
Industrial barcode creation objects 
Industrial barcode creation objects 
Industrial barcode creation objects 
Industrial barcode creation objects 
Industrial barcode creation objects 
Bar-code reader 
Multimedia authoring tool 
Application crash reporter 
Set of tools, classes and protocol 
Power controller 

AppKit and DBKit extension object pallete 
Object library/palette for communications 
Serial peripherals server objects 
System modeling and simulation objects 



Alembic Systems International Ltd. 

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SIMSON00002166 






Product Showcase 












AXONE: Neural Networks for MESA™ 




AXONE.app is a brand new NeXTSTEP application that lets you cre- 
ate, test, and run neural networks in a flash. Axone accesses your data 
model directly on your running MESA spreadsheet. Once satisfied with 
network performance, output your network as a Mesa Addln, or as a 
C-Function. All calculations necessary during network training are per- 
formed by Axone_server, a platform independent program available 
for all NeXTSTEP platforms, as well as SUN, HP, and others. Special 
introductory Price: 495 US$. 

Xenon Technologies Corp./16 Rue Christophe Colomb, 75008 Paris, France 
leb (33) 59 24 15 27, Fox: (33) 59 03 66 30, Email: Axone@ia5.u-strasbg.fr 



ECLIPSE: TO LEAVE OTHERS BEHIND 




E clipse 85 QE 

Pemtium 60MHz 

32mb exp. 64 

2GB SCSI-2 

32-BIT CONTROLLER 

INTERNAL CD-ROM 

#9GXE 1280X1024 

17" .28DP MONITOR 



Eclipse 73 5 E 

Pentium 60MHz 

32mb exp. 64 

1.2GB SCSI-2 

32-BIT CONTROLLER 

INTERNAL CD-ROM 

#9GXE 1280X1024 
17" .28DP MONITOR 



Ecli pse 535E 

Intel 486-66MHz 

16mbexp. 32mb 

540MB HARD DRIVE 

32-BIT CONTROLLER 

INTERNAL CD-ROM 

#9GXE 1280X1024 

17" .28DP MONITOR 



Data Met/1 1M Elko Dr/Sunnyvale, CA 94089 
voice 800.695.1 599/fax 408.747.0955 



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Circle 102 on reader service card 



Remote control for NEXTSTEP 



terwise 




ScreenCast™ allows remote control of other NEXTSTEP computers on 
you local or wide-area network. You see a copy of the remote computer's 
display and are able to manipulate it using your mouse and keyboard-just 
as if you were there in person. ScreenCast is invaluable for performing 
remote system administration without ever leaving your desk. It is also per- 
fect for providing remote user support-talk on the phone while showing the 
user how to correct the problem. $160 per user. 
Call or email for a free evaluation copy, 

Otherwise/1501 Lowe Ave/BeHinghai, WA 98226 

(206) 647-9436, Fox: (206) 738-60 17/scfee«(osf@of herwise.com 



Screen recording for NEXSTEP 




WatcliMe™ creates "tapes" by recording the screen activities and sounds of 
a work session to disk. You record a session, explaining what you are doing 
while you are doing it. When the tape is played back, viewers hear your 
voice while seeing what you did. WatchMe is great for creating 
instructional materials or for documenting your custom applications. 
WatchMe tapes can be used by themselves, or incorporated into multime- 
dia documents. 



Otherwise/150! Low® Ave/Bellingfeom, WA 98226 

(206) 647-9436, Fox: (206) 738-601 7/wotchme@otherwise.(em 



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32 mm AFRIL1994 



SIM SON 00002 167 






Product Showcase 



Complete Access 




Complete Access is the first object-oriented report writing application. 
Features include an intuitive graphical query builder which lets anyone 
create ad hoc queries without learning SQL, charting, and optional out- 
lining. Approximately 100 functions permit you to perform almost any 
type of calculation on your data. Use Complete Access to create not only 
your reports, but mail labels, envelopes, forms, list views, and more. 
Complete Access can be used with Rosebase, Sybase, Oracle, QuickBase, 
Interbase, or any other database for which an adaptor is available. 

Ocean Software, ln./4241 Baymeadows Rd #1 2,/kksonville, FL 32217 
904-363-1 646/'mfo@Kean$ofl.(om 



Neurol Network Simulation Environment 




NeuroSolutions™ provides a highly advanced, object-oriented simulation 
environment for neural network design applications. The innovations fea- 
tured in this package give you unparalleled power to deploy neural net- 
works to provide real world solutions for manufacturing quality control, 
financial forecasting, targeted marketing, academic and laboratory research. 
Our package implements both static and recurrent neural networks with 
incredible power and speed and provides extensive probing capabilities. 
With NeuroSolutions, a neural network is no longer a "black box". 

NeuroDimtnsion, Ibc/720 SW 2nd Ave., Suite #458/Gaine$vilie, FL 32601 
(800) 634-3327/(904) 377-51 44/FAX (904) 338-6779 



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The Last Word in NEXTSTEP Systems 



i 



Pars International Computer 

NOW SHIPPING 

BARRACUDA Series 

Bench marked the fastest 

'486DX-66Mhz, EISA/VESA 

up to 1MB Cache and 256 MB memory 

Pentium ; M Technology available 

starting at $1995. 




All of our systems are preloaded, configured, and tested with 
NEXTSTEP according to your requirements. Our customer ser- 
vice has made us No. 1, ask Clorox, Bank of America, Lawrence 
Berkeley Lab, UC Berkeley, Unisys Corp., EDS, PG&E, and 
many more. 

Order Desk Call Toll Free: 1-800-947-4742 



Pars Internationa! Computer/ 22441 Foothill Blvd./Hayward, CA 94541/(800) 947-4742 
(510) 733-0103 Fax (5101 733-0206 



ACCURATE TERMINAL EMULATION FOR NEXTSTEP 




Cables is the definitive terminal emulation and communications applica- 
tion for NEXTSTEP. Features: DEC VT320, VT220, VT102, ANSI-PC, 
DG D211, Tekttonix 4010/4014 emulations; function keys and key- 
board mapping; connect directly to serial ports, shells, or remote hosts; 
built in file transfer protocols; full color support; drag and drop configu- 
rations and more. With accuracy, robustness, and ease of use, Cables is 
the clear choice for your interoperability and legacy application needs. 
Price: $189-$399. Available for Intel and NeXT hardware. 

Yrrid lncorporafed/507 Monroe St./Chopel Hill, NC 27516/(919) 968-7858 
Fax (919) 968-7856/E-mail: irrlo@yrrid.tora 



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SIM SON 00002 168 



Product Showcase 



100 MIPS PENTIUM™ PROCESSOR w/ PCI LOCAL BUS 




TM 



Our 64bit Pentium " Processor is more than twice as fast as a 32bit 486DX2-66 and 
over four times faster man a NeXTstation TurboColor. Our Intel® motherboard incor- 
porates PCI Local Bus, the NEW industry standard with data transfer rates of 
132MB/s. We only use Intel® manufactured motherboards that are upgradable to 
faster Pentium Processors as they become available. Don't be fooled by 32bit 486 
systems that claim to be Pentium upgradable. THEY'RE NOT ! We specialize in cus- 
tom configurations with over a year's experience with NeXTSTEP on the PC and we 
typically deliver within 1-2 weeks. TAG is a Small, Minority-Owned Business. Systems 
available on GSA Schedule. Call toll free 24Hours to talk to a Support/Sales MSEE. 



Technology 
ChaniilkV, 



Advancement Group, Int /442S Brookfieid Corporate Drive, Suite 800 

f A 22021-1642 ?k (800) TAG-POWER (703) 631*111 Fax (703) 631-2761 

Pent™ PiMKessor aid liiel load- me registered traknorts of late! C«p«r«(ii)ii 



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GraphRight 




GraphRight is the most advanced, easy to use application for creating 
graphs and charts available for NeXTSTEP today. GraphRight's Object 
Oriented API can retrieve data from a variety of sources such as databases 
and stock feeds. 

Features include: -full Distributed Object API •Dynamic Object Linking 
•Error Bars and Linear Regression "Intuitive Interface •Backdrop Imaging 
•Easy to Use Table Based Data Editor 'Full Rich Text Editing 'Unlimited 
Undo «Drag and Drop Everything •Discontinuous Selection of Data. 

Watershed Technologies lnc/13 Trenwnt St. Suite 3F/Marlboro , MA 01752/(S08)-460-9612 
Fax(508)-481-39S5/graphrighf@watershed.cem 



PLUG AND PLAY PERIPHERALS FOR YOUR NeXT 




Peripheral Solutions specializes in quality high performance disk, tape and CD-ROM sub- 
systems for your NeXT workstation. Each device has been qualified on the NeXt to ensure 
ttue plug and play reliability on black and white hardware. 
9 First rate sales and technical support. 

• University and Government PO's accepted. 

• Micropolis 1 GB External Disk Subsystem, $998. 

• Exabyte 4200 DAT Subsystem, $998. 

• Come visit us at our booth at NeXTWORLD EXPO this June. 

Peripheral Solutions/ 1 OS Dubois Street/Santa Cruz, CA 95060 
(408) 457-3160 Fax: (408) 425-5792/Emaih p5i_ena@netcam.con1 



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23 Unique or Superior Features 




CrashCatcher™ is a non-inrrusive runtime utility for Objective-C debug- 
ging. It sends comprehensive crash and non-fatal NXException reports 
to the user's console or to an e-mail address for software in gdb, beta- 
test and production. Initiate reports externally and then return control to 
the application. Customize report triggers and contents, even to system 
and third party resources. Safely decode C strings and objects. Enable 
"soft landings". To save time in development and achieve 100% report- 
ing of errors in the field, ask for your free Evaluation Kit. 

Whitelight Systems, lnc/350 Cambridge Avenue, Suite 200/Palo Alto, CA 94306 
Phone: (415) 321-2183/Fax: (415) 321-2083/info@whiteiighr.cora 



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34 Mum APRIL 1994 



SIM SON 00002 169 



Advertiser Index 



RS# 


Company 


Page# 


27 


Alembic Systems 


30-31 


7 


Anderson Financial Systems 


14 


64 


Athena Design 


C3 


101 


Axone 


32 


79 


Black & White Software 


L0 


86 


BLaCKSMJTH, Inc. 


4 


102 


Data Net 


32 


96 


GEC Computers 


27 


8,49,30,55 


GS Corp./Collaggi 


6,7,8,9 


29 


Lighthouse 


a 


93 


Miro Computer 


3 


57 


NationsBanc 


28 


106 


NeuroDimensions 


33 


99 


Next Computer 


22-23 


38 


Objective Technologies 


C4 


105 


Ocean Software 


33 


103 


Otherwise 


32 


104 


Otherwise 


J2 


59 


Pages 


2 


107 


PARS International 


33 


110 


Peripherals Solutions 


34 


1 


Printer Works, Inc. 


25 


70 


RDR 


L0 


73 


Sarrus Software 


12 


109 


Technology Advancement Group 


34 


111 


Watershed Technologies 


v4 


112 


Whitelight Systems 


34 


31 


Workstation 2000 


29 


108 


YRRID 


33 



IDG: WORLDWIDE 



NeXTWORLD is a publication of International Data Group, 
the world s largest publisher ol computer-related information 
and the leading global provider of information services on 
information technology. International Data Group publishes 
over 194 computer publications in 61 countries. Forty mil- 
lion people read one or more International Data Group pub- 
lications each month- International Data Group's publica- 
tions include: ARGENTINA'S Cornputerworld Argentina, 
Infoworld Argentina; ASIA'S Computerworld Hong Kong, 
PC World Hong Kong, Compuierworld Southeast Asia, PC 
World Singapore, Computerworld Malaysia, PC World 
Malaysia; AUSTRALIA'S Computerworld Australia, 
Australian PC World, Australian Macworld, Network 
World, Mobile Business Australia, Reseller, IDG Sources; 
AUSTRIA'S Computerwelt Oesterreich, PC Test; BRAZIL'S 
Computerworld, Gamepro, Game Power, Mundo IBM, 
Mundo Unix, PC World, Super Game; BELGIUM'S Data 
News |CW) BULGARIA'S Computerworld Bulgaria, 
Ediworld, PC & Mac World Bulgaria, Network World 
Bulgaria; CANADA'S CIO Canada, Compurerworld 
Canada, Graduate Computerworld, InfoCanada, Network 
World Canada; CHILE'S Ccimputerworld Chile, Informatics; 
COLOMBIA'S Computerworld Colombia; CZECH REPUB- 
LIC'S Computerworld. Elektronika, PC World; DEN- 
MARK'S CAD/CAM WORLD, Communications World, 
Computerworld Danmark, LOTUS World, Macintosh 
Produktkatalog, Macworld Danmark, PC World Danmark, 
PC World Produktguide, Windows World; ECUADOR'S PC 
World Ecuador; EGYPT'5 Computerworld !CW) Middle 
East, PC Wotld Middle East: FINLAND'S MikroPC, 
Tietoviikko, Tietoverkko; FRANCE'S Distributique, GOLD- 
EN MAC, InfoPC, Languages k Systems, Le Guide du 
Monde Informatique, Le Monde Ir.forrmtique, Telecoms k 
Reseaux; GERMANY'S Computerwoche. Computerwoche 
Focus, Computerwoche Extra, Computerwoche Karriere, 
Information Management, Macwelt, Netzwelt, PC Welt, PC 
Woche, Publish, Unit; GREECE'S Infoworld, PC Games; 
HUNGARY'S Comouterworld SZT, PC World; INDIA'S 
Computers & Communications; IRELAND'S 
Computerscope; ISRAEL'S Computerworld Israel, PC World 
Israel; ITALY'S Computerworld Italia, Lotus Magazine, 
Macworld Italia, Networking Italia, PC Shopping Italy, PC 
World Italia: JAPAN'S Computerworld Today, Information 
Systems World, Macworld japan, Nikkei Personal 
Computing, SunWorld Japan, Windows World: KENYA'S 
East African Computer News; KOREA'S Compurerworld 
Korea, Macworld Korea, PC World Korea; MEXICO'S 
Compu Edition, Compu Manufactura, Computacion'Tunto 
de Vents, Computerworld Mexico, MacWorld, Mundo Unix, 



PC World, Windows; THE NETHERLANDS' Computer! 
Totaal, Computable (CWl, LAN Magazine, MacWorld, 
Totaal 'Windows'; NEW ZEALAND'S Computet Listings, 
Computerworld New Zealand, New Zealand PC World; 
NIGERIA'S PC World Africa; NORWAY'S Computerworld 
Norge, GWcrld, Lotusworld Norge, Macworld Norge, 
Networld, PC World Ekspress, PC World Norge, PC World's 
Produktguide, Publish& Multimedia World, Student Data, 
Unix World, Windowsworid: IDG Direct Response; PANA- 
MA'S PC World Panama; PERU'S Computerworld Peru, PC 
World; PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA'S China 
Computerworld, China Infoworld, PC World China, 
Electtonics International, Electronic Product World, China 
Network World; IDG HIGH TECH BEIJING'S New 
Product World; IDG SHENZHEN'S Computer News Digest; 
PHILIPPINES' Computerworld Philippines, PC Digesr 
!PCW;; POLAND'S Computerworld Poland, PC 
World/Komputer: PORTUGAL S Cerebro/PC World, 
Correio Informatico/Computerworld. Mack; ROMANIA'S 
Computerworld, PC World; RUSSIA'S Computetworld- 
Moscow, Mir - PC, Sery; SLOVENIA'S Monitor Magazine; 
SOUTH AFRICA'S Computet Mail (CIO), Computing 
S.A., Network World S.A.; SPAIN'S Amiga World, 
Computerworld Espana, Commumcaciones World, 
Macworld Espana, NeXTWORLD, Super Juegos Magazine 
(GameFrol, PC World Espana, Publish, Simwotld; SWE- 
DEN'S Attack, ComputerSweden, Corporate Computing. 
Lokala Natverk/t.AN, Lotus Wotld, MAC&PC Mm 
Mikrodntorn. PC World. Publishing k Design (CAP], 
Datalngenioren, Maxi Data.Windows World; SWITZER- 
LAND S Computerworld Schwriz, Macworld Schwciz, PC 
Katalog, PC k Workstation: TAIWAN'S Computerworld 
Taiwan, Global Computer Express, PC World Taiwan; 
THAILAND'S Thai Computerworld: TURKEY'S 
Computerworld Monitor, Macworld Turkiye, PC World 
Turkiye; UKRAINE'S Computerworld; UNITED KING- 
DOM'S Computing /Computerworld, Connexion/Network 
World, Lotus Magazine, Macworld, Open 
Computlng'Sunworld; UNITED STATES' AmigaWorid, 
Cable in the Classroom, CD Review, CIO, Computerworld, 
Desktop Video World, DOS Resource Guide. Electronic 
Entertainment Magazine, Federal Computer Week, Federal 
Integrator, GamePro, IDG Books, Infoworld, Infoworld 
Direct, Laser Event, Macworld, Multimedia World, Network 
World. NeXTWORLD, PC Letter, PC World, PlayRight, 
Power PC World. Publish, SunWorld, SWATPro, Video 
Event; VENEZUELA'S Computerworld Venezuela, 
MicroCompnterworld Venezuela; VIETNAM'S PC World 
Vietnam 



Introducing 



NEXTSTEP Care ers 

NEXTSTEP Careers is your best source to find expert programmers 
for your mission critical custom applications. With 30,000 NeXT- 
WORLD Subscribers, we are the premiere publication for NEXTSTEP 
owners and analysts. 



SOFTWARE ENGINEERS/DEVELOPERS 
BOULDER * WESTPORT CT * HOUSTON * NEW YORK* D.C. 



SHL SYSTEMHOUSE is a leader in Object Oriented Systems integration and Soft- 
ware Development. We are seeking Object Technology Software professionals to 
join our Capital Markets and Trading Group, Object Technology Center (OTC), 
and Object University. At SHL Systemhouse Object Technology is a vision, a phi- 
losophy and a well defined software development environment. 

Object career opportunities exist for Project Managers, Software Engineers and 
Business Development Professionals with two or more years experience in Ob ject Tech- 
nology in a NeXTSTEP development environment For information send your resume to 
Michelle Hayden, Dept. NW494, SHL Systemhouse 950 South Winter Park Dr., 
Suite 200, Casselberry Florida 32707. (800) 769-8704 or Fax 407/767-5309 ( VFM). 



Resumes invited: Unix and NeXTSTEP Consultants/Developers with 
strong backgrounds in OOP/OOD. Experience with RDBMS/ 
OODBMS a plus. Resumes to Information Technology Solutions 500 

W. Madison ST. Suite 2210 Chicago, IL 60661 or Email to resumes® 
its.com. No telephone calls please. 



Buy/Sell 



Buy and sell surplus and used NeXT 
hardware and peripherals. Dealers 
and individuals will get the most 
options and the best prices on the 
NeXTWORLD BLACK MARKET. 
Coming in May! 



Disks 



NeXT [cube] optical disks, 

unused, in original wrapping. 
Limited quantity. $25 each + plus 
ship, or $250/box of 10. 
(412) 683-2380. 



NeXTWORLD Classifieds reach the largest NeXT Market possible 
with a single ad. Place your ad in NEXTSTEP Careers, Buy/Sell, or 
under any heading for the same rate. 

Rate: §125 per column inch. There are seven lines per inch. Thirty- 
six characters equal one line (include punctuation, letters and spaces 
as characters). 

To place your ad today. . . 

Fill out this form and mail it or fax it to: 

NEXTWORLD Classifieds 

501 2nd Street 

3rd Floor 

San Francisco, CA 94107 

FAX #415/978-3196 

Issue Date: 

Name: 

Title: 

Company: 

Address: 



Phone 



For more information call Melissa Bigelow at 415/974-7383. 



jnnii mo a umtumdi ti tr 



SIM SON 00002 170 



VANISHING POINT 



□ khough I wear several other hats besides my NeXTWORLD- 
columnist fedora, I've never before been tempted to wear any of 
them in this space. But this month I'm here as vice-chairman of 
the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), an organization that 
Mitch Kapor and I cofounded three years ago. 

EFF is about virtual liberty: freedoms of expression, privacy, assembly, 
community, and opportunity in the human environments that exist inside 
networked digital media. If you're a NEXTSTEP user, you probably know 
a lot about these "places." They are the native home of NEXTSTEP, the 
OS designed for connectivity. 

I'm wearing this hat because I think you 
should know that the virtual terrain where you 
work is under attack by the U.S. government. 
It is conducting a campaign that may gravely 
affect the way your company does business, 
especially if you are in financial services or 
any other line that involves electronically trans- 
mitting monetary values or sensitive data. 

At the urging of the FBI and NSA, the 
government has created a new Federal Infor- 
mation Processing Standard based on an encryp- ■■■^■■■^■■■M 
tion chip of NSA design called Clipper; These agencies hope that a Clipper 
will eventually be installed in every telephone and computer system in the 
United States and that Clipper's secret encryption algorithm will be the stan- 
dard that replaces DES for all secure transmissions. 

Unfortunately, it won't be very secure itself. The government will hold 
the decoding key to each chip. The keys themselves will be split into two 
pieces, one of which will be held in escrow by the National Institute of Stan- 
dards and Technology, the other by the Treasury Department. Under some 
vaguely defined (and surely mutable) "lawful authority," law-enforcement 
officials may join these pieces and begin monitoring your communications. 

If these communications are international, the NSA may also gain access 



Don't Tread 
On Us 



j H ,\ P E R R Y B A R L Vt 



to them, and its constraints on extracting the key pairs are not public infor- 
mation. If you start using Clipper devices, your overseas customers may 
become fairly uneasy about the security of their transactions with you. And 
they should be. 

As it stands, Clipper is a voluntary standard, though it may become 
necessary for communicating with such government bodies as the IRS. But 
the government hopes to suppress competing algorithms by maintaining its 
Cold War export embargo on robust encryption software or devices. 
The Electronic Frontier Foundation hopes you will fight the general 

deployment of the Clipper chip, and we 
believe that the best way to do so is through 
expanding the sale and use of other digital 
locks to which the government does not hold 
the keys. 

Because you work in an object-oriented 
environment, NEXTSTEP developers may 
have an important role in this fight. Ask your 
colleagues overseas to develop encryption 
objects that employ a secure algorithm like 
RSA. You can import these objects and in- 
corporate them into applications created here. 
We also strongly urge you to join our campaign to pass a bill in Congress 
that would force the government to lift the export embargo. Such a bill, 
H.R. 3627, has already been introduced by Rep. Maria Cantwell of Wash- 
ington. E-mail in support of this measure can be sent to cantwell@eff.org. 
We will print out these messages and pass them on to Congress. 

Whatever your feelings about the sort of woolly-headed civil-liberties 
concerns we at EFF have regarding Clipper, preventing its deployment may 
become critical to the future of your business. After all, when cryptography 
is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl. % 

John Perry Barlow stands guard here each month. 



Cosmic Taskmaster 



NeXT Games 



bv S G t. F r 



Scheduling a complex projeo ' i ilknge that can take on cosmic pre- 
porr ^ till this ; created Taskmaster, software 

iu manage the time, people, and costs in a project. 
At right is j simplified Task^ ; m :dow showing J 2 task \ . red 

I through 12. Each task has a length in days and a list of prefess® 

-sibly none) that roast be S Krfore it can b . list 

of four people. Each person has a cost per use (the amount cl -eh 

the person starts a new task) and a cost per day (the amount charged 
for each day or' work 

Contest 



sirdttttsni ■ '■■.■ 1 2 tasks to the four people s: i to- 

jeer is completed within 20 days and I : tot more 1 1 

Each task must be assigned to one person working consecutive days. Oi 
person caani o tasks at the same time. Record your answers in the 

k numbers for each person. Write X for an eiuptv 
day. For instance, Ej e 1, 12, 6. X. Kara credit: Each task i 

responds to a sign of the zodiac; name the signs. 

ro ten lucky win- | T-shirt. Ado j 

ORLD. -)ndSt.,S;f:iFraneiv 

94] 07. Or fax us at 4 1 5 ' I mries must be n ■ ry April 

15, I! 

The | . , , ,' | r€: Pojy. 

gom Quadrilateral hiuikueral M ■ ( p- Com 

tgukr Polygon, '! on; Reg 



Cosmic Tasks.taskmaster 




I / Feed the M/ 

4 £ Water the plants 

1 3 Recycle tin cms 

y 4 Feed ttie cat 

t s Buy white sheets 

i 6 Buy poison antidote 

1 7 Visit china shop 

t 8 Complain about taxes 

i 3 Photocopy articles 

■4 W Read Robin Hood 

f it Knit wool sweater 

i /<? Balance checkbook 



Eaitha: . 
Aaron: 



Fanya: 
Waller; 




on, Rectangi. on, Rhombus; Kite: 

Rhombus; Regular apezoid: Parallelogram; 1- 

Squa »id. Kite; Parallelogram: I 

angle: S< mt. 




SIM SON 000021 71 






Your Corporate Spreadsheet Solutio 



MEM 



Scenario: 



Wonder Widget Wholesalers, Inc. has its corporate headquarters and national sales organization in 
Chicago and 4 factory/distribution centers located in Atlanta, Boston, Phoenix and Seattle. 



Pwblem: 



WWW must balance production against inventory' and demand. Managers must react 

quickly to quality fluctuations. Salespeople must cost products to stay competitive. 

Executives need a real-world view of new product introductions in an easy to understand format. 



Seattle: A manager uses Mesa to determine 

material and man-hour requirements needed to 

fulfill orders over the next month taking into 

account current inventory levels. 




Solution: 



Wonder Widget Wholesalers uses Mesa to track production, to update factory output in 

real time, to model costs and generate sales quotes, and to query the corporate database to 

easily generate reports and graphs based on current and historical information. 



Chicago: The MIS department has developed a custom 
Executive Information application that uses Mesa to query the 

corporate database, build graphs, and print reports. Mesa's 
Object Library Interface (MOU) made developing this appli- 
cation easy through Palettized spreadsheet and graph Objects. 



Boston: A corporate analyst uses Mesa to predict 
future product demand based on historical data 
queried from the corporate database. 



SEATTLE 





PHOENLX 



ATLANTA 



Phoenix: The production department catches and 

fixes a quality problem within minutes based on real 

time production line information fed into Mesa. 



Atlanta: A salesperson uses Mesa to build a quote 

for a customer based on current costs of production, 

labor costs, and other variables so that WWW 

makes a profit yet still has a competitive price. 



Mesa leverages the strengths of each of WWW'S workers by giving them an easy, powerful tool to access 

corporate data, to manipulate and report that data, to exchange worksheets, and to integrate into 

WWW's custom application and executive information system framework. For WWW, Mesa is more 

than a spreadsheet. Mesa is an integral part of the corporate information structure. 



SQL Queries • MOLI-Mesa Object Library- 
Interface • Accepts Real Time Data Feeds 
File Compatability with Excel 3.0 , 1-2-3 , 
SYLK™, and 20/20™ 




F aating License Mar-age* anj Site Licenses avg tab 
Educat'ona (fascaurfe ava igye 



ATHENA DESUi 

Spreadsheet excellence 
I" St. May's Court, Boston, MA 02146 USA 

1 . 8 . 9 4 9 . M E S A 

1.617.734.6372 • fax. 1.617. 734.1130 ' info@athena.com 




Mesa, the best-selling NEXTSTEP™ spreadsheet, runs on NEXTSTEP for Motorola™ and Intel™ processors. 



MEXrSTE? is i regiitered iidewrk cf W? i-: \tcrao6 ii\ni>~*c<c' >:?.vs\ lac ■ i ! ,■•■■ nBtdliadi I ■■■' ■■; E«a Htm - " ■ : ■- - if* •■:■:'■ at - Si ::•"=■; I I ftmCoip ?-'K s "*:' ■'■ tfComweetteWCMB f'sc=i3"\ :cj"Kvof : c:ls Stock Ptic:o. nc 



SIMSON00002172 



' 







Hierarchical Reports 



Create malti-level 

hierarchical reports of 
arbitrary complexity. 
Titles and labels can 
repeat on each level. 



Cross Tables 




Multi-directional data 
replication allows 
creation of cross tabular 
and other complex 
report sections. 



Custom Elements 



Build your own palettes 
of report display 
elements. Customize 
the look of your report. 



Static Images 



Growth 



Subk 



Avg 

Growth S 
Trial: f 



Subk 



Avg 

Growth 5 
Trial 

Subjt 



1 



3 

4 

5 

Avg 

Confidential - L 






Rotated Elements, too! 



Ceil Regeneration Trial Report 
Sample NS-93 



Regrowth Cross Tabulation 
Trial A B C D 



Regrowth Codes 

A Full Regrowth 
B Partial Regeneration 
C Cell Acceptance 
Ceil Rejection 



Include logos, 

graphics, text and 

other static artwork 

in the report layout 

These will replicate as 

the report grows. 



Summary: NS-93 Accelerated 

Depth(mm) 
Trial Start End A 


Davs 5 - A| 


1 7.16 

2 8.23 

3 7.52 

4 6.96 


6.16 
5.94 
6.28 
6.50 


1.00 

2.29 
1.24 
0.46 


• 27.4 0.24 
35.4 1.05 

32.2 0.00 

19.3 0.78 






A 1.24 


Avg. Dev. 0.50 




— Notes — 

This trial was extremely 
sucessful in showing the 
regenerative potential of 
Serum NS-93. We 

recommend going to full 
human study as soon as 
possible. 



Complex Analytics 



Create formulas 

dependant on data or 

other calculations that 

are described earlier 

or later in the report 



Rich Text 



Retrieve formatted 

text (RTF) from the 

database. 



Confidential - Do Not Distribute 



Page 1 of 4 



2:11am 7/11/1993 




« f & 



SmartField 
Palette 

Winner of Object Ware 
Best Of Breed Award 



The DBKit™ Report Writer 

Impress™ is the missing piece of the 
DBKit. NeXT supplied the tools to create 
custom database applications but what 
you need are account statements, 
analytical reports, form letters and 
mailing labels. On paper. Without writing 
a program or learning PostScript®. 

Impress lets you easily create reports 
from any DBKit accessible database. Use 
WYSIWYG layout tools to produce 

Impress amiSmrtFiehMem an irademrh of Objective Ttdmniogii's. 
Ini DSKil is a imtlemark oj NtXT, Inc. fbatSt rip! iit u KgkMfi tmtkmafk 
ofAthhe Syatue Inc. 



everything from simple tables to multi- 
page hierarchical documents. Retrieve 
data with point & click query tools. 
Construct complex reports with an 
extensible scripting language. 

Buy Impress and let Objective 
Technologies finish the job NeXT began. 
Report writing was never so easy. 

"urn, 

800.3.0BJECT 2 1 2.227.6767^ o 3 objed.com 



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SIM SON 00002 173